LISBON: A Portuguese League match was abandoned at half-time on Monday night after cracks appeared in a stand.

Estoril were 1-0 up at home to Porto when away fans were ordered from one of the stands at the Antonio Coimbra da Mota Stadium. According to local media cracks of around 2cm appeared in one of the stand pillars had cracks of around 2cm.

The stadium, which is 25km from Lisbon, was opened in 1939 and has a capacity of 8,000. Fans were evacuated on to the pitch. The second half will be played at a date to be agreed.

Estoril, in a statement, said: “A meeting between representatives of Estoril Praia, FC Porto, Liga Portugal and the security services agreed that the safety conditions were not sufficient for the game to continue.

“The interruption is linked to the fact that part of the north side of the Estadio Antonio Coimbra da Mota had damage in the middle, which caused some alarm and that led the authorities to safely evacuate the entire stand in question.”

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