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Brazilian police were investigating at least three soccer fans on Tuesday after a pig’s head was thrown onto the field during a league game between bitter rivals Corinthians and Palmeiras.
Corinthians beat Palmeiras 2-0 on Monday evening at the NeoQuimica Arena in Sao Paulo, but the big talking point was the incident in the 39th minute when the score was still 0-0.
The pig’s head was thrown onto the field as Palmeiras was preparing to take a corner and Corinthians striker Yuri Alberto ran over to kick it away.
“I almost broke my foot. I thought it was a cushion, something like that,” Alberto told journalists after the match. “I tried to kick it hard, but it was a pig’s head, I almost injured my foot.”
Investigator Cesar Saad told journalists that the pig’s head was brought to the stadium hours before the match. Two men have been questioned about the incident and police were still looking for a third, who was sitting next to them during the game.
Local fans have insulted Palmeiras supporters as pigs since 1969, when a car crash killed two Corinthians players during the season and Palmeiras was the only club that wouldn’t agree to the team’s request to sign two new players.
Palmeiras later adopted the pig as its mascot.
The incident was reminiscent of what happened in Spain in 2002 when Barcelona fans threw a pig’s head onto the field during a “clasico” game when the team’s former striker Luis Figo returned to the Camp Nou Stadium as a Real Madrid player.