ROME: Some 20 people, including CSKA Moscow fans, were hurt when an underground escalator malfunctioned ahead of the Champions League tie against Roma.

Seven people was reported to have been seriously hurt at the city-centre Repubblica station.

State television RAI broadcast a video of the incident that showed the escalator suddenly speed up, leaving people in a tangled crush at the bottom, unable to jump free.

Reuters said that Rome Mayor Virginia Raggi visited the metro station and said the local transport authority had opened an investigation.