Sevilla beat eight-man Atletico Madrid 1-0 to maintain their push for a European place, but the game was overshadowed by crowd trouble which saw the match halted for 30 minutes.

Atletico fans bombarded Sevilla players with objects, and the visitor’s goalkeeper Andres Palop was hit with a whisky bottle, just moments after Sevilla had taken the lead after 76 minutes.

The home supporters were furious with the decisions made by the referee, Miguel Ayza Gamez, with the visitors awarded two first-half penalties while Madrid had three players dismissed.

Trouble started after Puerta put Sevilla ahead although the home crowd insisted there had been a foul in the build-up to the goal.

After consulting with his assistant, the referee allowed the goal at which point fans began throwing objects at Sevilla’s Palop with objects forcing the game to come to a premature end.

Referee Miguel Angel Ayza Gamez called a halt to the game after picking up the heavy bottle which had hit Palop.

“I am not surprised the referee took the players off the pitch, it was getting dangerous,” said Sevilla coach Juande Ramos.

Atletico can now look at a heavy fine or even having points deducted when the Spanish football federation meet to consider the incident.

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