Boca vs. River headed across Atlantic
Photo credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
After the suspension of the second leg of the Copa Libertadores final due to the altercation conducted by River Plate fans against Boca Juniors’ bus and players while traveling to the Estadio Monumental, CONMEBOL reached an agreement with the RFEF, the Royal Spanish Football Federation, to send the match to Madrid.
The Santiago Bernabeu will host the decisive second leg of the Copa Libertadores. River Plate and Buenos Aires didn’t obey CONMEBOL’s Article 4, which guarantees the “integrity, continuity, and stability of the competitions.” In other words, River Plate couldn’t ensure the security of the players and attendees to the match.
CONMEBOL, the dominant football organism of South America, decided to apply Article 35 and change the location of the game after the events that occurred outside of the Estadio Monumental left Boca Juniors at a disadvantage.
Article 35 of the CONMEBOL rulebook demands that “in case of any difficulty or impossibility to dispute a match in the city, date and hour stipulated; CONMEBOL will adopt appropriate modifications. CONMEBOL under their criteria will modify dates and times if it’s prudent or necessary. Also, they will change the place of the match as an alternative solution.”
CONMEBOL president Alejandro Dominguez explained in a statement that Madrid has the largest Argentinean population outside of Argentina, an “important connection of Madrid’s airport” with the world and the free availability of the Santiago Bernabeu.
Boca Juniors and River Plate will play Dec. 9 at 8:30 p.m. Madrid time. CONMEBOL applied a fine of $400,000 to River Plate, with the addition of two games behind closed doors during the 2019 CONMEBOL competition.
However, the position taken by Boca Juniors is simple. They don’t want to play the match until they find justice for the “behavior and the reoffending attitude of the organizer club” or until they run out of options against CONMEBOL, and even mentioned the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in their press release.
CONMEBOL already denied Boca’s petition, and the case moved to the Camara de Apelaciones de CONMEBOL, which is the entity that concedes or denies appellations from South American clubs and national teams.
But everything is ready across the Atlantic, and the chance to witness the first Libertadores final outside of the South American continent is intriguing. CONMEBOL will take care of the outlays of both clubs, and with the money gained from ticket sales, Dominguez said that he “will create a fund to fight against football violence.”
The Superclasico’s faith, mother of all rivalries, will be decided in the heart of Madrid with both groups of supporters present. A rivalry that began in a humble neighborhood in Buenos Aires will have the Santiago Bernabeu as a witness to its eternal glory, and simultaneously, endless disgrace.
Follow Luis on Twitter: @LFulloa.
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