BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Striker Carlos Tevez says CONMEBOL is forcing Boca Juniors to play the Copa Libertadores final on Saturday even though teammates were injured after River Plate fans attacked the team bus.
River fans threw stones and wood at the bus near River’s Monumental de Nunez Stadium and broke several windows. Players were hit by shattered glass and thrown objects, and suffered the effects of tear gas and pepper spray used by police to contain the violence.
CONMEBOL President Alejandro Dominguez gathered with FIFA President Gianni Infantino, who came to Buenos Aires to attend the match, for a final call on whether the second leg of the final should proceed or not.
The South American soccer body delayed the kickoff for an hour, then postponed it for 2 hours, 15 minutes to 7:15 p.m. local time (2215 GMT).
Just minutes before the delayed kickoff, the teams had still not warmed up on the field.
“They’re forcing us to play this game under these conditions where we have teammates who are not well,” Tevez told reporters outside the locker rooms.
Boca vice-president Dario Richarte said earlier: “We are not ready to play this match as we were.”
Boca captain Pablo Perez and Gonzalo Lamardo were taken to a nearby clinic. Perez had cuts in his arms, and an eye was hurt by shattered glass. Lamardo had trouble breathing because of tear gas.
Footage also showed Tevez, Nahitan Nandes, Dario Benedetto, Mauro Zarate, Ramon Abila, and Agustin Almendra among the injured.
“They threw pepper spray at us, all sorts of objects,” striker Benedetto said.
Police made arrests in the area of the stadium, but it was not clear whether those were connected to the incidents.
Meanwhile, 66,000 River Plate fans were in the stadium waiting for a match that has been one of the most anticipated in Argentine football history. No visiting fans are allowed in the stadium, following a 2013 ban on away fans to stop football related violence in Argentina.
Boca and River drew 2-2 in the first leg two weeks ago, in a game that was delayed by torrential rain that flooded Boca’s La Bombanera stadium.
The clubs hold one of football’s most intense rivalries, and the second leg is being called “the game of the century” because it is the first time they are meeting in the Copa Libertadores final.
The final eclipsed even the arrival of U.S. President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin and other world leaders for a G-20 summit in Buenos Aires next week.
Ahead of the match, Argentine President Mauricio Macri, a former Boca president, said it would take “20 years” for the loser to recover from defeat.
Infantino compated the passion to a World Cup final.
“It’s incredible, fantastic, spectacular. We need to make up new words for this match,” he said. “It’s no longer the superclassic, it’s the mega superclassic.”
Boca has six Copa Libertadores titles, and River three.
Argentina’s most successful teams originated in the docks of the southern working-class Buenos Aires neighborhood of La Boca. Their rivalry dates to the early 20th century.
The attack is the latest chapter in the bitter rivalry between Argentina’s biggest clubs and the country’s history of endemic soccer violence.
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