”Respect for Iranian Women’ was also written on the back of his shirt (Picture: Getty)

A pitch invader who appeared to be carrying a Pride flag sprinted across the pitch during the World Cup clash between Portugal and Uruguay.

Five minutes into the second-half, play was briefly interrupted as a member of the crowd entered the field of play at the Lusail Stadium before being stopped by security.

The pitch invader also wore a t-shirt bearing the message ‘Save Ukraine’ on the front and ‘Respect for Iranian Women’ on the back.

Three security guards were seen forcibly removing the fan from the pitch.

The incident came just moments before Bruno Fernandes opened the scoring for Portugal.

The World Cup has been riddled with controversy with Fifa originally making the decision to ban rainbow colours at the event – a decision they have since reversed with items no longer prohibited.

Fans attempting to bring flags and items of clothing bearing the colours have been stopped by security staff at venues throughout the competition, with Welsh fans having bucket hats carrying the colours taken ahead of their first game against USA last Monday.

Security quickly removed the fan (Picture: Getty)

The pitch invader had ‘Save Ukraine’ on the front of his shirt (Picture: Getty)

A number of nations including England planned to wear the OneLove rainbow armband in support of the LGBTQ+ community and to highlight Qatar’s archaic homosexuality laws in the process.

However, on the eve of the World Cup, Fifa threatened to book any players who wore the armband.

There were even suggestions that officials could go into the dressing rooms before matches and strip captains of the armband.

In their opening group match last week, Germany players covered their mouths during a team photo ahead of their 2-1 defeat against Japan, illustrating ‘Fifa is silencing us’ by the armbands.

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The pitch invader also wore a t-shirt bearing the message ‘Save Ukraine’.