Biggest game of all called off
Libertadores Cup in chaos as second leg of the Final is postponed after team-bus attack
It was billed as the Final of all Finals; the biggest club game ever. For the first time in the history of the Libertadores Cup, the Final of South America’s top competition would be decided between River Plate and Boca Juniors.
This was possibly the most important match in Argentinian club football history. Not only were the stakes higher than ever, this superclasico would be played in front of a worldwide audience. It would also be a passionate, intense and vibrant curtain-raiser to the most important global event that Argentina has ever
hosted: the G20 leaders’ summit.
After a draw in the first leg, the return at River’s El Monumental would be winner takes all. But as the world tuned in on matchday, security forces, violent supporters, the players and clubs, as well as the South American football organising body CONMEBOL, were all involved in a miserable spectacle.
Nothing that happened had not been seen before in Argentina’s football, but the sheer dimension of this match made it all the more scandalous.
This article should have been about an astonishing chapter in one of world football’s great rivalries.
Over 100-years old, River Plate and Boca Juniors dominate Argentinian football and the superclasico attracts international audiences for its folklore and passion. The iconic and mythical stadiums, El Monumental and the Bombonera, are revered as monuments to the South American game.
But instead of telling the story of an historic match, this is a tale of Argentinian football’s failure.
At just after 3pm on Saturday, November 24, under two hours before kick-off, Boca Juniors’ team bus approached El Monumental. As it turned off Libertador Avenue onto Lidoro Quinteros Avenue, five blocks from the stadium, a throng of River Plate supporters pelted the bus with bottles and rocks, smashing windows.
Police fired tear gas to disperse the River supporters. The driver fainted. When the bus finally arrived at the stadium, several players were retching from the tear gas. Team captain Pablo Perez had shards of glass in an eye and was taken to hospital, along with midfielder Gonzalo Lamardo. They would be deemed unfit to play by doctors, although that was something CONMEBOL medical staff did not corroborate.
“We are in no state to play,” striker Carlos Tevez told reporters. “But they are forcing us to play.”
In the chaos, CONMEBOL pushed back the kick-off time once, and then once more. FIFA president Gianni Infantino, in Buenos Aires just for the game, would later be obliged to tell the newspaper La Nacion: “Given the false rumours, I want to clarify that at no point did I ask that the game go ahead.”
It was only after River and Boca’s respective presidents, Rodolfo D’Onofrio and Daniel Angelici signed “a gentlemen’s agreement” to wait until both sides were ready to play that was the match suspended until Sunday.
“This should have been a fiesta,” said Perez, his eye patched up, as he left the stadium. “Instead we came to war.”
River coach Marcelo Gallardo said:
“We have been shown up as a society.”
While the match was delayed, security outside the stadium collapsed. On Libertador avenue, tear gas and rubber bullets were fired as fans and security forces clashed. at the stadium, thousands of ticketless supporters tried to gain entry. Stewards began closing gates.
the possibility of a major disaster, similar to the gate 12 tragedy 50 years ago, when 71 Boca fans died in the crush at el Monumental was all too real.
the inquest into what had happened began immediately.
Firstly, and most crucially, was the question of why didn’t the security forces clear the streets for Boca’s arrival? Why were river supporters so close to the Boca team bus?
“they did not put up the barriers they usually do for these games,” said Dario ruben, the driver of the Boca team bus. “it was a zona liberada” – there was no police presence.
the Buenos aires city council was in charge of security and the city police liaised with national forces: the gendarmerie and the naval prefecture. it was this last force that was responsible for the corner where the attack on the bus took place.
Buenos aires mayor Horacio Larreta called for a full investigation from the city’s security minister, headed by Martin Ocampo. to conspiracy theorists’ delight, Ocampo has said in the past that Boca president angelici is “like a brother”.
the city council admitted there was a “serious failure” in the security operation. Mayor Larreta said the main line of investigation for the attack on Boca’s bus is linked to a police raid on the river Plate barra brava the day before the match. the police had seized 300 tickets, thousands of dollars and around £210,000 in argentine pesos. the problem of argentina’s barra
bravas has been discussed many times. With lucrative match-day income centred around the ticket-touting industry, there are rich pickings to be had, which rival factions fight over.
then the focus shifted from the
“Given the false rumours, I want to clarify that at no point did I ask that the game go ahead” FIFA president Gianni Infantino
“This should have been a fiesta. Instead we came to war” Boca Juniors captain Pablo Perez
attack itself to what would happen next.
On Sunday the match was suspended once again, after Boca said they were unable to play, not least with Perez’s eye injury. In addition, Boca also requested that CONMEBOL sanction River Plate under article 17, which includes punishments ranging from a warning, to a $400,000 fine, stadium closure, disqualification from the tournament or a future competition ban. The implication was that Boca sought the latter two, going against the “gentlemen’s agreement” signed by both club presidents the day before.
Many at Boca wanted the proverbial book thrown at River in payback for 2015, the last time the two sides met in the Libertadores.
On that occasion. River won the first leg of the round of 16 at the Monumental 1-0 but the return at the Bombonera was suspended just before the start of the second half, with the score at 0-0. As River’s players emerged from the tunnel, a member of the Boca barra brava, Adrian “El Panadero” Napolitano, fired pepper spray at them. River had players hospitalised with burns, CONMEBOL disqualified Boca from the tournament, and River went on to win their third Libertadores title.
At El Monumental after the attack on Boca’s bus, Tevez brought up this
incident, saying: “In the pepper-gas incident they complained that nobody from Boca went to see how they were. Not one of them came to see how we were here.”
Comments like this from senior players set the tone among the institutions and the supporters. Many at River recalled how Boca’s players lined up in formation to play the second half in 2015 and turned to applaud the stands from where the attack had come when that game was suspended.
The Libertadores Cup Final was a fixture that the Argentinian president, Mauricio Macri, had publicly asked for away supporters to be permitted. Not since 2013 have there been away fans in Argentinian football – a result of the incessant matchday and barra brava-related violence. Before entering politics, Macri, who is the son of one of the country’s wealthiest businessmen, was president of Boca Juniors. He oversaw one of the most successful periods in the club’s history, winning 17 titles in total, including four Libertadores Cups and two Intercontinental trophies.
Macri’s government now has plans to transform Argentinian football, most controversially by changing clubs’ statutes to “privatise” clubs which are currently supporter-owned institutions. And safety is ostensibly another priority. With the policy Tribuna Segura, (“safe stands”), checks at the turnstiles have lead to the police detaining over 500 fugitives – including homicide suspects – who have been unable to resist going to watch their team play.
So, when River controversially beat Gremio in the semi-final with a late VAR-induced penalty, and Boca overcame Palmeiras, a mouth-watering showdown was in prospect.
“We are going to have a historic Final,” Macri wrote on social media. “Also it is an opportunity to show maturity, that we are changing and that we can play in peace.
“I have asked the security minister to work with the Buenos Aires city council so that there are away fans.”
In the end there were no away fans as both clubs rejected the idea, but the president was not the only one whose words would make for uncomfortable reading less than a month later. When asked on television about the possibility of away fans at this Final, security minister Patricia Bullrich replied: “We are hosting the G20, how are we not going to be able to control a River-Boca?”
With no away fans present, and after the match had been postponed by a day due to torrential rain, the first leg at the Bombonera had delivered a refreshingly entertaining match.
Goals from Ramon Abila and Dario Benedetto for Boca, Lucas Pratto and
an own goal by Carlos Izquierdoz saw the game end 2-2.
However, barely a few minutes away from the Bombonera, River Plate’s team bus was ambushed. Boca supporters threw rocks, breaking the window by back-up keeper German Lux.
The police had been caught off guard and arrived late, firing rubber bullets to disperse the Boca supporters.
In neither leg of the much-hyped “superfinal” were the police able to protect the team buses.
The only difference between the first leg and the second was how effective the assailants’ aim was.