The second leg of the Copa Libertadores final was pushed back one day after Boca Juniors players were injured Saturday when their bus was attacked as it drove to the stadium in Buenos Aires, Argentina, for the scheduled start of South America's biggest match.
South American soccer's governing body, CONMEBOL, rescheduled the game between Boca and their biggest rivals, River Plate, for Sunday at 5 p.m. local time (3 p.m. ET) after Boca players were hurt and unable to play the match when shattered glass from the windows and tear gas shot by police got into the team bus.
CONMEBOL initially postponed the match until 6 p.m. local time Saturday; kickoff was pushed back again, to 7:15 p.m., before the announcement was made that the game would take place on Sunday.
TREMENDO | Así quedó el micro de Boca tras los incidentes. Qué locura. @marca https://t.co/6pF2eVaMYH pic.twitter.com/OPP42yGUAe
— MARCA Claro Argentina (@MARCAClaroARG) November 24, 2018
River fans threw stones and wood at the Boca team bus as it made its way to River's Monumental de Nunez Stadium, breaking 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.
"They were throwing pepper gas, stones, everything," the Clarin website quoted Juan Carlos Crespi, a member of the Boca delegation, as saying.
"The players are all hurt, you can't play this way," Christian Gribaudo, Boca's secretary general, said in quotes reported by Clarin, with the club asking doctors to examine the players.
Pictures showed players Carlos Tevez, Pablo Perez, Nahitan Nandez, Dario Benedetto, Mauro Zarate, Ramon Abila and Agustin Almendra among the injured, with captain Perez taken to hospital after being cut by shards of glass.
Tevez was interviewed by a local television station and said: "We are not in a position to play the game. They're forcing us to play it.
"We have three companions who are not physically well. No River player came in to ask how we were doing."
Clarin said six players had vomited in the dressing room after gas drifted through bus windows smashed by River fans outside the stadium.
Police made arrests in the area, but it was not clear whether those were connected to the incidents.
Boca and River drew the first leg 2-2 on Nov. 11, a game that was delayed 24 hours itself because of a waterlogged pitch at Boca's stadium.
Three years ago, a Copa Libertadores last-16 tie between the same teams was abandoned at half-time after Boca fans attacked the River players with pepper spray in the tunnel.
River was given a bye into the quarterfinals and Boca was kicked out the competition.
Information from Reuters and the Associated Press was used in this story.
Read Again Brow http://www.espn.com/soccer/conmebol-copa-libertadores/story/3707742/copa-libertadores-final-postponed-until-sunday-after-boca-bus-attacked-players-hurtBagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Copa Libertadores final postponed to Sunday after Boca bus attacked, players hurt"
Post a Comment