LAUSANNE – Fifa president Gianni Infantino said on Nov 22 that there was no place in football for violence, after ugly clashes ahead of Brazil’s World Cup qualifier against Argentina.
A skirmish between rival fans broke out during the national anthems in a stand behind one of the goals at the Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro a day earlier with Brazilian police confronting Argentina fans.
The match had to be delayed for around 30 minutes as the police fought back the melee with batons, leaving some fans with bloodied faces and other injuries.
One Argentina fan lay on the field with blood on his face before being taken away on a stretcher.
“There’s no place in football for this kind of violence, on or off the pitch,” Infantino said on Instagram.
“Without exception, all players, fans, staff and managers need to be safe and protected to play and enjoy football and I urge the competent authorities to ensure this is respected at all levels.”
Argentina players, including their captain and star man Lionel Messi, went towards the disturbances in an attempt to plead for calm.
Argentina and Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez even attempted to jump into the seating area at one stage to confront a baton-wielding Brazilian police officer.
Messi and the other Argentinian players then returned to their dressing room as the clashes continued, with the forward appearing to say: “We’re not playing, we’re leaving.”
“We went to the locker room because it was a way to calm everything down a little,” he said afterwards.
“It was bad because we saw how they were beating people. The police were repressing the people with nightsticks. There were players who had families over there.
“We went to see how our families and people close to us were doing. And then we came back.”
There were also violent clashes between fans of Argentina’s Boca Juniors and Brazil’s Fluminense in Rio de Janeiro ahead of the Copa Libertadores final between the clubs earlier in November.
The two nations are famous for having a deep-rooted footballing rivalry.
Argentina went on to defeat Brazil 1-0 thanks to a goal from Nicolas Otamendi and sit top of the South American qualifying standings with 15 points from six games.
Brazil’s third straight defeat in qualifying, meanwhile, leaves the five-time world champions in sixth place with seven points from six games.
In the aftermath of it all, Brazil’s football fan clubs association, ANATORG, said government authorities and the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) were “negligent” in seating rival fans next to each other at the Maracana, with no barriers separating them.
“The negligence and incompetence of the CBF and security officials resulted in the brawl,” said ANATORG, which had issued a statement on Nov 20 – a day before the match – warning of the risk of violence, given the mixed-seating plan.
“This was a tragedy foretold,” it added.
Rio state police called the events “deplorable”, and accused the CBF of meeting with its commanders to discuss security plans only after tickets had sold out with a mixed-seating plan.
“The CBF decided to release tickets for sale without country quotas and, worse, without delimiting separate seating areas,” it said in a statement.
The CBF, meanwhile, rejected accusations of negligence.
“State police and other authorities were aware of the plan to use mixed seating, which is the standard for matches organised by Fifa,” it said in a statement.
“The organisation and planning of the match were carefully and strategically carried out by the CBF, together with the authorities, especially the police.”
AFP, REUTERS
