New footage has surfaced of Angel Di Maria spitting at Brazil fans after they showered him in beer by the Maracana tunnel.

Di Maria was retreating to the changing rooms with his Argentina teammates due to crowd trouble in their World Cup qualifier with Brazil when he was doused in alcohol.

Argentina's players were walking beneath a throng of baying Brazil fans when the beer hit him, causing him to retaliate with a salivary shot of his own.

The national anthems had been marred when fans started brawling and police officers bludgeoned supporters with batons, causing Lionel Messi to lead his countrymen to the shelter of the dressing room.

Kick-off was delayed by around half an hour and Emiliano Martinez launched himself at a policeman to disarm him as the rivalry collapsed into anarchy.

The video shows a streak of beer slosh onto Di Maria's forehead before he jumps up at the fan, who is out of shot and spits in their direction.

It was unclear what started the unrest, but supporters were seen attacking each other and even ripping the seats from the stands and launching them.

In attempts to solve the situation, police charged at the away fans before shockingly wielding batons and hitting people - leaving some bloodied.

Messi led his team-mates to safety amid the flaring tempers but things hardly cooled down.

After emerging, he and Rodrigo De Paul had a heated exchange with Brazilian forward Rodrygo, who accused them of being 'cowards'.

'We are the world champions, why are we cowards? Look at your mouth,' Messi shot back.

In the first half alone, there were 22 fouls in a scrappy contest.

Nicolas Otamendi got the only goal of the game in the second half to put Argentina on course to inflict a first-ever home World Cup qualifying defeat on their enemies.

But the drama wasn't even over.

Brazil substitute Joelinton was sent off not long after coming on after shoving De Paul in the chest - with the Argentina midfielder collapsing dramatically, clutching his face.

While Joelinton didn't appear to make contact with De Paul's face, he was nonetheless giving his marching orders in the 81st minute.

After the final whistle, Messi hit out at the fetid atmosphere and the behavior of the Brazilian police.

He said: 'We saw how [police] were hitting the people, it already happened in the Libertadores final,' he said, referring to the scenes at the Maracana before Fluminense's win over Boca Juniors this year.