Brazil federation denies wrongdoing after loss to Argentina overshadowed by pre-match crowd violence

The Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) said Brazil’s 1-0 loss to Argentina was organized as normal despite the fact that the match was overshadowed by crowd violence that eventually caused a delay to kickoff.

The teams came out on the field as scheduled but a fight broke out between opposing fans during the national anthem on Tuesday night at the Maracana. The situation escalated once police arrived in the stands and became involved in the violence, which saw some fans rip seats out of the Rio de Janeiro stadium and throw them at police officers.

Argentina players moved towards the crowd in an attempt to call things down, but goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez at one point grabbed the arm of a police officer to stop him from hitting an Argentina supporter with a baton.

Lionel Messi then led the Argentina players into the locker room while Brazil players stayed on the pitch. The reigning world champions returned roughly 10 minutes later and after a discussion and brief warm-ups, the match began about half an hour behind schedule.

Messi spoke after the match about why his side left the pitch amidst the chaos.

“Obviously, at the beginning it was bad because we saw how they were beating people,” the Argentina captain said, per Reuters. “You think about the family, the people who are there, who don’t know what’s going on and we are more concerned about that than playing a match. At that point the match was secondary.”

Eight people were arrested according to Brazil’s state military police, including one woman who racially abused a member of stadium staff.

The pre-match incident is being attributed to the fact that opposing fans were too close to each other and that the security arrangement was not adequate to prevent such an interaction. Col. Vagner Ferreira, commander of the Special Battalion of Stadium Policing, said the ticketing situation led to action on the officials’ part.

“Normally, in every game, there is an area for away fans and an area for the home fans,” Ferriera said, per The Athletic. “Today, I think the big problem — for individual and public safety — was the way the tickets were sold, all mixed together around the Maracana.”

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Ferreira then defended the police’s reaction to the incident.

“I believe that every action corresponds to a reaction,” he continued. “There is a history of certain sets of fans having greater confrontation with security forces. I think that was the cause. It was necessary to use increasing force. Initially, we used verbal warnings. Later, we had to use the batons. There was no use of non-lethal rounds, rubber bullets. We did not use tear gas. We were very technical, doing what stadium police know how to do.”

The day after the event, the CBF attempted to absolve themselves of wrongdoing and described the ticketing situation as “standard.”

“This is not a model invented or imposed by the CBF,” the confederation said in a statement on Wednesday, per CNN. “Therefore, the CBF reaffirms that the action, security and operation plan for the match were strictly followed.”

The CBF also said that 700 military police officers and 1,500 private security guards were on staff at the Maracana on Tuesday.

Messi also said he noticed a pattern after the same venue was also plagued by fan violence earlier this month, when three people were arrested ahead of the Copa Libertadores final between Brazil’s Fluminense and Argentina’s Boca Juniors.

“It already happened in the Libertadores final (where there were clashes between Boca Juniors and Fluminense supporters and the police at the Maracana),” Messi said. “We went to the locker room because it was the best way to calm everything down, it could have ended in tragedy.”