Lionel Messi, the recently crowned Ballon d’Or winner, stated after Argentina’s thrilling victory over Brazil that the crowd situation “could have ended in tragedy” as the game was disrupted by violent altercations between supporters and police.
Shortly before the 2026 World Cup qualifying match began, tensions in the stands erupted, and Brazilian police were recorded using batons to push back a group of Argentine supporters at one end of the stadium.
A number of Argentina players approached the commotion in what appeared to be an attempt at calming things down. At one point, goalie Emiliano Martinez attempted to leap into the seating area and confront a Brazilian police officer brandishing a baton.
As the altercations persisted, Messi and the Argentina team headed back to their dressing room, with Messi seemingly saying, “We’re not playing, we’re leaving.”
After a delay of around half an hour from the originally scheduled kick off time, the 2022 World Cup champions returned to the pitch just before 10 p.m. local time.
Despite the fact that Argentina won in Rio de Janeiro thanks to a header from defender Nicolas Otamendi in the second half, Messi described the victory as “secondary” after the game.
“It was bad because we saw how they were beating people,” Messi, 36, said, adding that the fights were in a section of the stadium containing the Argentina team’s family and friends.
“The police, as happened in the Libertadores final, were once again repressing the people with night sticks.”
“We went to the locker room because it was the best way to calm everything down, it could have ended in tragedy.”
“You think about the families, the people who are there, who don’t know what’s going on and we were more concerned about that than playing a match that, at that point, was of secondary importance.”
Messi referred to the unpleasant scenes, saying they were reminiscent of the unrest that occurred earlier this month during the Copa Libertadores final, which was also hosted at the Maracana and featured brawls between supporters of Brazilian team Fluminense and Argentine rivals Boca Juniors.
In a bid to alleviate the tension, Brazil captain Marquinhos joined the Argentina players on the pitch, and the defender acknowledged he was worried about the clashes.
“We were worried about the families, women and children that we were seeing in panic up there in the stands,” he said. “Down on the pitch it was hard for us to understand what was going on, it was a very scary situation.”
Argentina tops the South American qualifying table after the victory with 15 points from six games.
With seven points from six games, former five-time world champions, Brazil, are now in sixth place following their third defeat.
