Reasons For Brazilian And Argentine Players To Work Together For Chaos In The Tribune

Emiliano Martinez while trying to win a police stick at the chaos of the Brazilian vs Argentina party in the 2026 World Cup Qualifiers (doc. BBC).

JAKARTA The match between Brazil and Argentina on the sixth matchday of the Conmebol 2026 World Cup Qualification Zone at the Maracana Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, Wednesday, November 22, 2023 was marked by a riot incident between supporters and the police.

According to a BBC report, the incident began when the national anthem of each team was sounded. The supporters' group clashed in one of the back stands of the Maracana Stadium goal.

After that, the riots escalated and eventually made the police intervene. However, the Brazilian police seemed to side with accusing Argentine supporters of being the culprit.

They used sticks to beat the visitors' supporters. The situation made the fans of Team Tango react.

Some of them took seats and threw them at the police. Others spilled onto the pitch to avoid the commotion.

Suddenly, the riots caught the attention of the players who were already on the pitch. They were reluctant to start the match.

The Argentine and Brazilian players even approached the stands and worked hand in hand to calm the police and supporters. It appears from them that the captain of Team Tango, Lionel Messi, Emiliano Martinez, and the captain of Team Samba, Marquinhos.

In fact, Emiliano Martinez tried to take the stick out of the hands of the police. Due to the unfavorable situation after the players helped calm him down, the Argentine team chose to leave the field and return to the dressing room at Messi's command.

When asked after the match, Messi had a reason to leave the field when the riot broke out. He and his colleagues did that because they didn't want a tragedy.

"It's bad because we saw how they (police) beat people. Police, like what happened in the Libertadores final, once again oppressing people with sticks," Messi said, as reported by the BBC.

We went to the dressing room because it was the best way to calm everything down. It could end in tragedy.

"You think about family, the people there, who don't know what's going on and we're more worried about it than playing a game that, at that time, wasn't really important," said the 36-year-old.

Brazilian captain Marquinhos, is in three pieces of money with Messi. The defender, who joined other players to calm the incident in the stands, is also concerned about the birth of the victim from a person who knows nothing.

We are worried about the family, women and children we see panicking in the stands. On the pitch it's hard for us to understand what's going on. It was a very scary situation," said Marquinhos.

Regarding Messi alluding to the final of the Copa Libertadores, he remembered a similar incident where the police acted repressively to supporters.

Launching the Mercopress report, ahead of the Copa Libertadores final which brought together Fluminense and Boca Juniors on November 4, 2023, two Boca Juniors supporters were arrested in Rio de Juniro after clashes with Fluminense supporters.

The arrests took place at Copacabana Beach 48 hours before the match which was also held at the Maracana Stadium.

Several Argentine media also immediately highlighted the incident. According to Ole, police intervention only focused on supporters of Boca Juniors.

A group of Fluminense supporters immediately attacked them ( Boca Juniors supporters), causing fans to run. In the afternoon, the police started throwing tear gas at the masses and firing rubber bullets at will, continued the sports daily.

There is no doubt that the police acted against the Argentines when it was the Fluminense fans who incited violence in the afternoon.

The incident at the 2026 Conmebol Zone World Cup Qualification between Brazil and Argentina reminded Lionel Messi of a similar incident in the Copa Libertadores final.

No wonder the captain of Team Tango took a temporary strike so that the situation could be conducive again.

Although the situation could be conducive after 30 minutes had passed and the match resumed, victims of the incident continued. ABCNews reported that one victim was seriously injured as a result of the police's repressive actions.