Billed as the final game to end all finals, Boca Juniors against River Plate in the final of the Copa Libertadores was, as many said, bigger than Barcelona versus Real Madrid in a Champions League showpiece. Now, it looks set to go down in history for all the wrong reasons.
The first leg brought drama as torrential rain saw the game at La Bombonera postponed back by a day. Although it seemed like a sufficient dose of drama at the time, it was nothing compared to what was to follow.
This fixture is called the “Superclasico”; a meeting in the Copa Libertadores showpiece dubbed as “Superfinal”. It was supposed to showcase the very best of Argentine and South American football. Instead, it has achieved exactly the opposite.
After the first match ended in an entertaining 2-2 draw at La Bombonera, the second leg was due to take place on Saturday at River’s Monumental home. But violence intervened and when Sunday came, the game was called off for a second time.
Despite the significant police presence, Boca’s bus was stoned on its route to the stadium on Saturday. On board, the players’ songs were interrupted by a shattering of glass, which left two players needing hospital treatment. Others were left feeling dizzy and sick, vomiting from pepper spray.
Conmebol, the governing body for South American soccer, will regard this final-this opportunistic experiment —as a success. Fans had been flying into Madrid for days, not just from Argentina but from across Spain and the rest of Europe. On Friday night, thousands of River fans gathered at Plaza Mayor, in the heart of the city, as a show of strength, a little piece of Argentina in Europe’s cobbled squares.
On Saturday morning — just as they had in Buenos Aires the day the game was supposed to be played — fans in the red and white of River and the blue and yellow of Boca strolled in the winter sunshine at Plaza Mayor and at Puerta del Sol, mingling happily with the Christmas shoppers, with one another.
The bus should not have been there in the first place. Its route, along with the Avenida Monroe, saw the vehicle drive straight through the enemy heartland, where thousands of River fans had gathered ahead of the match. It is where they always congregate, yet the police escort could not even protect one vehicle containing around 50 people.
Still, Conmebol pushed for the game to go ahead. But eventually, it was postponed until Sunday night to allow the Boca players to recover. The two club presidents had agreed the match should be played in “equal conditions” and on Sunday, Boca said that was impossible. So now it is off again and what happens next is anyone’s guess.
More than that, though, it was at the whim of Conmebol — after twice pressuring the teams to play that same weekend — that Argentina was stripped of the right to host the biggest game in its history, the game that had become known as the Final to End All Finals, against the wishes of the Argentine government and both clubs.
In the end, a fixture which was to be celebrated for its intense color, passion, noise and spectacular atmosphere will be remembered for a series of unsavory incidents involving violence, thuggery, and hatred. Instead of showing off its beauty and its unique vibrancy, Argentine football has shamed itself with the world watching.
It got the game it had hoped for, too: Boca taking an early lead on a brilliant breakaway goal from Darío Benedetto, and then River hitting back, no less stylishly, through Lucas Pratto. If the quality was a little absent, the drama was not. Extra time loomed, the final to end all finals again becoming the final that would not end.
Only when Juan Quintero curled home, expertly, from the edge of the box did daylight appear. By that stage, one Boca player had been sent off, and another removed through injury. It had just nine players. It could not resist. And in the dying seconds, Martínez raced clear, his place in immortality waiting.
Today’s football would be inconceivable without Argentina. The South American nation lives and breathes its favorite sport in a unique way; it is a country that gave us Alfredo Di Stefano, Diego Maradona, Lionel Messi and so many more. But it still leaves a big problem.
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