It doesn’t get much bigger than Brazil vs. Argentina but some fans took it too far after a brutal brawl broke out in the stands delaying their World Cup qualifier by 30 minutes.

During the national anthems at Maracanã in Brazil, locals and Argentinian fans began fighting in the stands promoting Brazillian police to step in with batons.

Police were assaulted with chairs thrown at them with some fans running onto the pitch to escape the chaos.

Lionel Messi and his teammates went over to the stands to try and calm the situation with goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez attempting to jump up to get between the fans.

Argentina eventually headed back into the dressing rooms with the game suspended until police eventually corralled visiting fans into a fenced-off section.

However, it did little to calm the fire in the eyes of the two teams with the first half of the match descending into farce with Brazil committing 16 fouls and receiving three yellow cards.

Argentina committed six fouls of their own with the two sides conjuring up just one shot on target between them.

Brazil were hoping to turn their qualifying campaign around against the World Champions having lost successive qualifying matches for the first time in their history against Uruguay and Colombia.

But Nicolas Otamendi headed home for Argentina in the 63rd minute with a red card to Brazilian striker Joelinton condemning Brazil to a third straight defeat.