SIX RED CARDS! Zenit St Petersburg's clash with Spartak Moscow erupts in a mass brawl

Zenit St Petersburg's Russia Cup tie against Spartak Moscow descended into chaos as six players were sent off following a mass brawl in injury time at the end of the 90 minutes.

With the game finely poised at 0-0, both sides appeared to have settled for deciding the tie from the penalty spot.

As Spartak took a deep free kick from inside their half, forward Quincy Promes and midfielder Wilmar Barrios  clashed shoulders and appeared to exchange a few words but few would have expected the reaction of their teammates as almost every member of staff, both playing and not, piled in for a mass brawl on the pitch.

Such scenes are an unwelcome distraction from the game at hand, but some humour could perhaps be found in watching the referee chase after individuals as he dished out red card after red card.

The initial scuffle was escalated by Rodrigao Prado, number 55 for Zenit, running in and choosing to kick his opposite numbers with the referee stood merely metres away. He, rather amazingly, did not receive a red card for his role in proceedings.

It was at this point where the referee, understandably, lost total control of the match and the players with all descending onto the pitch to try and get a taste of the action.

Such was the nature of the chaos ensuing on the pitch, both substitute benches in addition to a number of coaching staff members all choose to get involved.

It is testament to that fact that the six red cards - handed out to three players from each side - were all awarded to players who were not technically playing, including former Barcelona man Malcom.

The other players red carded were: Wílmar Barrios and Rodrigo (both Zenit) and  Aleksandr Sobolev, Shamar Nicholson and Aleksandr Selikhov for the away side.

The melee makes identifying individuals fairly tough work, with the referee on the day having earned his match fee for correctly identifying players involved, let alone the tough job of restoring order on the pitch.

While many chose to pile into bodies on the floor, some did do the sensible thing and tried to drag people underneath the boots of the players. At various intervals it appears as though a player is going to get trampled.

The players are clearly not the only party involved. Members of the coaching staff appear to also have revelled in some of the fighting, while a man donning a suit and a lanyard - signifiers, if ever there was such, of importance at a football match - threw a number of punches having been involved in the middle of the storm.

Order was eventually restored, with the benches shorn of a number of bodies. Fortunately for both, there remained enough players for the penalty shootout.

Zenit sent their home supporters into raptures as they advanced, winning 4-2 on penalties.