The Estadio Couto Pereira was home to a touching display on Wednesday night as fans gathered to pay tribute to those who lost their lives in a tragic plane crash that killed 71 people, including the majority of the Chapecoense playing squad.
The team were on their way to play Atlético Nacional in the Copa Sudamericana before their aircraft crashed over Colombia.
On Wednesday night, fans from a number of different teams set aside their rivalries and gathered in Curitiba’s stadium to pay tribute to those who lost their lives in the crash with a display of banners, flags, singing and flares that was incredibly touching.
Although the venue is over 300 miles from the city of Chapecó, where the team hail from, they played their Copa Sudamericana games in the Couto Pereira stadium as a result of it being a larger venue capable of hosting the matches. At 9.45pm, as what would have been the second leg of the final against Atlético Nacional was due to kick off, the lights were turned off and fans began the impressive tribute.
The football world has been united in grief in the wake of the tragedy, with tributes being paid by teams all over the globe. A number of high profile players, including former Barcelona star Ronaldinho, have offered to turn out for the club as they look to rebuild.
Barcelona themselves have invited the team to take part in their pre-season tournament, the Joan Gamper trophy, saying that they wanted to do something to help the club at this dark time for them.
FC Barcelona invites Chapecoense to the 2017 Joan Gamper Trophy: https://t.co/rXWZOcTybB #FCBLive pic.twitter.com/EfKzPjeS9n
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) December 8, 2016
In a statement, they said that they wanted to "make the 2017 Joan Gamper Trophy a great tribute to the world of football through various activities around this match which will become known as the date of this celebration approaches.
"Along with the invitation to Chapecoense to the 2017 Joan Gamper Trophy, FC Barcelona would like to collaborate on the institutional and sporting reconstruction of the Club, and help to recover the competitive level that it had."
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