River Plate fans go wild back in Argentina
Supporters party as they watch action in Madrid from afar
The game was played in Madrid but the celebrating and suffering stayed in Argentina. River Plate won the Copa Libertadores tournament, beating bitter rival Boca Juniors in an eternal final that lasted a month and that was moved to Spain for the first time in history because of fan violence prior to the second leg,
Even though that the decision from Conmebol to move the game to Spain angered many Argentines, each fan base lived the final at Buenos Aires with the same passion, intensity, emotion and the craziness similar to when the game is played in South America.
Jubilant River Plate fans flocked to the iconic Obelisk in downtown Buenos Aires on Sunday to cheer their team’s fourth Copa Libertadores title.
“A minute of silence because Boca is dead,” fans chanted in ecstasy waving the red and white flags from River under heavy rain. “Christmas Eve is coming Christmas Eve is coming, for every Boca fan this is your daddy’s gift”. ■
Many “Millonarios” fans also gathered outside of Estadio Monumental, the place where the game was set to take place on November 24.
“You cannot believe this”, said Marcelo Gomez, a River Plate fan who followed the action in a local bar a few blocks from the Obelisk. “We could not play the game here but we hang in there and at the end we did it”.
No violence
The celebration in downtown Buenos Aires was held without any violence and supervised by more than 2,000 police officers.
Argentina President Mauricio Macri, a confessed Boca Juniors fan, congratulated River.
“Congratulations to River and all of their fans for the win in this historic match. In Boca we know that football always gives you a time for revenge”, Macri said on his official Twitter account.
Desolation was the mood in the south of the city, where Boca are based. “I do not like to lose. I started crying,” lamented Sabrina Ortiz, wearing a team jacket. “Boca deserved (to win),” she said. River now head to Abu Dhabi from Madrid for the Club World Cup.