Boca Juniors v River Plate Copa Libertadores final postponed 24 hours after players injured in attack on team bus in Buenos Aires
- Carlos Tevez furious as officials tr to make the game go ahead at River’s packed Monumental stadium
- Visiting players vomit in the changing rooms after police use tear gas to deal with fans launching missiles at Boca bus
The second leg of the Copa Libertadores final was postponed on Saturday after Boca Juniors players were hurt when their bus was attacked by River Plate fans outside the stadium, ruining what was supposed to be a landmark day for Argentine football.
The all-Buenos Aires clash, the first time Argentina’s two biggest clubs had met for the title, was billed as the greatest final in the competition’s 58-year history but will instead be remembered for the violence that left players bleeding and almost all the windows on one side of the Boca bus shattered.
South American football’s governing body CONMEBOL twice rescheduled the kick-off in the hope of getting the game played but with a capacity 62,000 crowd waiting for the players to emerge they eventually decided to postpone the final.
“One can’t play in these conditions,” CONMEBOL President Alejandro Dominguez told reporters.
The final of the competition, South America’s equivalent of Europe’s Champions League, was rescheduled for Sunday at 5pm local time.
However, later on Saturday the city government ordered River’s Monumental stadium closed for exceeding capacity limits and failing to keep exits clear, casting doubt on whether the second leg will go ahead on Sunday.