23 Red Cards Issued in Brazil Cup Game

Twenty-three players were shown a red card as a lengthy brawl requiring the intervention of military police marred the final seconds of a Brazilian soccer match between Cruzeiro and Atletico Mineiro in Belo Horizonte on Sunday. Former Brazil forward Hulk was among the players sent off following the violence that lasted more than a minute and spread from one end of the field toward the other as substitutes, members of coaching staff, and security also weighed in, the AP reports.

• "We need to acknowledge our mistakes and learn from them," Hulk wrote on Instagram on Monday. "What happened yesterday does not represent the values that soccer should embody. Rivalry is part of the sport, but respect must always prevail over any emotion."

The brawl was sparked by a challenge by Cruzeiro midfielder Christian on Atletico goalkeeper Everson, who responded by rugby-tackling his opponent to the ground and dropping both knees into his head. That led to a mass fight as players from both teams piled in, punching and kicking each other. "It's turned into MMA," a commentator shouted. In footage shared across social media, Hulk, who plays for Atletico, was seen punching an opponent in the back of the head then getting kicked in the chest. "I apologize to everyone who was in the stadium, to those who watched it on television, and especially to the children who look up to football. What we saw on the pitch is not the example we want to set," Hulk said Monday.

The rivalry between the teams is one of the most heated and historic in Brazil, reports the New York Times. According to statistics provided by the teams, Cruzeiro had 12 players sent off and Atletico had 11. Cruzeiro wound up winning 1-0 in the Campeonato Mineiro final to become state champion in Minas Gerais. The record for the most red cards in a soccer game was set in Argentina in 2011, when all 36 players, 11 on-field players and seven substitutes on each side, were sent off, the BBC reports. According to Guinness World Records, what the referee described as a "generalized brawl" was "the result of a series of confrontations and heavy tackles that had taken place throughout the feisty encounter" between Club Atletico Claypole and Victoriano Arenas.