Police beat fans – Lionel Messi watched in shock from the sidelines

Emotions ran high in the Maracana stadium. EPA / AOP

In the legendary Maracana stadium, a riot broke out already during the national anthems, when the fans of Brazil and Argentina clashed during the World Cup qualifying match.

Fans tore chairs out of the stands and threw them at each other. Soon the police arrived at the scene with batons and started beating the sad Argentine fans with them.

After this, the players arrived and tried to calm the situation.

– It was bad. We saw how they beat people, Lionel Messi described the actions of the police the BBC by.

Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez went around so much that he tried to jump in with the commotion in the stands to defend his own. Fortunately, the man was stopped.

Based on the videos circulating on social media, some of the fans suffered severe injuries. Even one man was lying on the grass with his head covered in blood. Another cried in the stands.

The story continues after the video.

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The going got so wild that Argentina’s players left the arena.

– We went to the dressing room because it was the best way to finance the situation. It could have ended tragically, Messi stated after the game.

The Argentinian skipper was especially worried about the families who had arrived in the stands.

– We thought more about that than the game itself. It was secondary at that point.

The Argentine players did not agree to come back to the field until the frightening situation had calmed down. So the start of the match was delayed by about 30 minutes.

Finally, the game started, and Argentina won Nicolás Otamendi with a header 1–0. The hit came in the 63rd minute Giovani Lo Celso from the corner kick served.

Argentina leads the South American World Cup qualifying group with 15 points after six rounds. Brazil is only sixth with seven points. The yellow shirts have lost their last three matches.