Luis Jimenez Attacks Mauricio Pinilla in a Santiago Nightclub

Steven Gerrard is not the only footballer to have been involved in a bar fight in the last few days.

The main football story dominating the headlines in Chile has centered on a brawl that occurred in a Santiago nightclub between two international players, Luis Jimenez (Inter Milan) and Mauricio Pinilla (Vasco da Gama).

The feud between Jimenez and Pinilla goes back to over a year ago when the tabloid press in Chile alleged that Pinilla had spent the night with Jimenez’s wife, model Maria Jose Lopez (pictured), whilst the Inter midfielder was in Jamaica on international duty.

Whilst both were on their winter holidays back from Italy and Brazil respectively, they found themselves in a night club in Santiago and Jimenez took out his anger on Pinilla.

According to a number of reports, Jimenez, nicknamed “the little wizard,” attacked Pinilla with a blunt instrument, causing three blows to the head and the victim of the attack was forced to go to hospital for treatment and was diagnosed with head trauma and a neck injury.

Local reporters were live on the scene and reported on the incident as the parties exited the nightclub.

According to the local media, Mauricio Pinilla had approached the couple at the nightclub and was warned to back off. Failing to heed the warnings, a fight broke out with Pinilla getting thumped by Jimenez.

When Pinilla exited the club the paparazzi were waiting outside. They chased down Pinilla’s car barking “is it true you got hit?” After finally get the footballer to acknowledge them, Pinilla responded by simply pointing to his cheek before making the “crazy” sign, turning his finger on his temple.

The paparazzi then tracked down the woman at the centre of the fight, Maria Jose Lopez. Running after Lopez as she was trying to speed away in the car, the paparazzi shouted “is it true you cried in the toilet?” With the model not answering, the female reporter opened the driver’s door on the moving vehicle, forcing Lopez to slow down and allowing the photographers to get their money shot.

The news report (in Spanish) into the incident can be seen here.