Chaos erupted before Wednesday afternoon’s World Cup Group B match between Chile and Spain.
Less than an hour before the game was set to kick off, dozens of Chile fans broke down a barrier and stormed into the Estádio Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro.
A group of the fans soon made it to the stadium’s media center, bringing down a makeshift wall and knocking over televisions and storage lockers in the stampede.
“It was not yet clear who had burst into the stadium or why, but it appeared to be supporters who had taken advantage to try to get in to see the game for free,” reports the Guardian.
Estimates of the number of fans who rampaged through the media center have varied, with some reporters saying there were up to a hundred fans rampaging through the area.
Wednesday’s matchup between the defending World Cup champions and the South American squad will play a big part in determining which one of the teams will advance to the knockout stages of the tournament along with the Netherlands, which defeated Australia 3-2 earlier in the day.
Last Friday, Spain was defeated by the Netherlands 5-1, while Chile triumphed over Australia 3-1.