Related News
S. American soccer still wary after successful Madrid final
Print Edition
The Copa Libertadores finally ended, without incident.
River Plate fans peacefully celebrated the team’s triumph over Boca Juniors as the city of Madrid showed it is possible to successfully organize the high-profile game between two of the South American continent’s fiercest rivals. But there were doubts the happy ending at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium would prompt many changes after one of the greatest debacles in South American soccer history.
“To be honest, sometimes it seems like we are incapable of learning,” Boca Juniors coach Guillermo Barros Schelotto said. “I don’t think we will be able to take much from what happened in this stadium, from how the fans behaved here. Hopefully we will learn a lot, but it seems like we are incapable of learning. It seems that if this final happens again in a few years, we won’t be able to play it again.”
River Plate won 3-1 in extra time on Sunday in a match that was relocated to Madrid after the second leg was twice suspended because Boca players were injured when River fans attacked their bus with rocks, bottles and pieces of wood. The teams drew 2-2 in the first leg at Boca’s Bombonera nearly a month ago.
Nearly 70,000 River fans waited for hours inside the team’s stadium two weeks ago before South American soccer governing body CONMEBOL suspended the match and later decided to play it outside Argentina because of safety concerns.
“Everybody knows that a lot of people wanted to watch this final,” River captain Leonardo Ponzio said. “But we have to be realistic, our society is not prepared for this type of event. This final is over, but a lot of things still need to be solved. All we can do is make sure that all of this never happens again.”
While hundreds of River Plate fans celebrated in Madrid’s iconic Puerta del Sol plaza, riot police had to take action against rowdy fans back in Buenos Aires. Argentine media said some fans were detained and a few police officers sustained minor injuries in the downtown confrontations.
It’s not certain that the Madrid final was actually the end of it all, as Boca could still try to appeal CONMEBOL’s decision not to disqualify River for the problems outside its stadium.
“As far as the sports side is concerned, to me it’s all over. River won,” Schelotto said. “As far as all the legal issues, it would be good for CONMEBOL to take some action. Not about who won the Copa or about sanctions to River or Boca, but to make sure that what happened the other day doesn’t happen again. It’s not normal to throw rocks at a bus of a rival team. Hopefully these things will not happen again.”
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
