Brazilians celebrate goal with gunfire

A group of football fans in Brazil have taken their post goal celebrations to a dangerous new level by unleashing bursts of automatic weapon fire into the air, scaring the daylights out of spectators and locals alike.

A video of the incident was reportedly shot last weekend and shows what appears to be an amateur football team wearing the Brazil national team's kit preparing to take a penalty.

As the footballer runs up to the spot and presumably slots the ball home, the crowd watching through a chain-link fence go wild .

Some fans jump up and down and scream but their restrained jubilation is quickly upstaged by at least two men who savour the goal with some celebratory gunfire.

As the fans recklessly spray bullets across the sky other spectators gaze at them in apparent disbelief, some blocking their ears.

The video will undoubtedly help cement the football-mad nation's reputation for being fanatical about the game while also underscoring the violent and dangerous nature of many of its cities.

The images are probably the type the authorities would like to avoid as Brazil frantically prepares to host the World Cup next month.