Kolkata’s 70-foot tall Lionel Messi statue is under scrutiny after structural problems surface

The 70-foot Lionel Messi statue at Lake Town began swaying in the wind this week, and the reaction across Kolkata was not panic so much as existential embarrassment. The giant fibreglass tribute to the Argentine icon was unveiled five months ago amidst a lot of fanfare and floodlights. 

Engineers find structural flaws after residents spot movement

The Public Works Department inspection that followed reportedly identified ‘structural flaws’ in the installation. Officials found problems with balance and support, particularly around the footing of the statue, after residents noticed it visibly moving with moderate winds. Authorities have now decided the structure may have to be dismantled altogether.

The statue was a giant vertical announcement that Kolkata remains India’s spiritual capital of football fandom, where allegiance to Argentina can feel more hereditary than political ideology.  Though the locals had complained how the statue didn’t carry any facial resemblance to the football icon, it became one of the city’s most talked-about public attractions.

The statue itself was installed by Sreebhumi Sporting Club and unveiled in December 2025 as part of the much-hyped GOAT Tour associated with Lionel Messi. The statue carried the inscription “initiative of Shri Sujit Bose.” Messi inaugurated it virtually, his image beamed into a city that has spent decades emotionally outsourcing its football dreams to Latin America. But now the pilgrimage site wobbles.

The sculptor, Monty Paul, has defended the structure, insisting the movement was intentional. According to him, the statue was designed to sway slightly “like a tree” so it could absorb wind pressure and seismic stress. 

Still, engineers were unconvinced. Officials reportedly concluded that the statue’s feet had not been properly balanced, creating instability serious enough to warrant removal. That assessment transformed the monument overnight into a cautionary tale.

This city has always loved grand gestures, but here was a monument celebrating arguably the most balanced footballer in history, undone by balance itself.

People are now comparing the statue to political cut-outs in storm season, to Puja pandals surviving October rain, to “Messi doing dribbling practice in the wind.” But beneath the humour sits a genuine melancholy because Kolkata briefly believed it had created a permanent monument to its footballing soul and discovered instead that the whole thing could wobble in a gust of wind.

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