After much back and forth over the last 24-hours, it has been decided that the second-leg of the Copa Libertadores final will not go ahead tonight. With the tie deadlocked at 2-2 from the opening-leg, River vs Boca will have to wait for another day.
Scheduled to take place last night, an attack on the Boca Juniors bus carried out by River Plate fans resulted in a number of the visiting players receiving severe injuries; for Pablo Perez, a spell in hospital was required to treat glass that had gotten into his eye from one of the broken windows on the team bus.
In spite of this pre-match incident, the powers that be had initially deemed it suitable to simply push the kick-off time back an hour, and then an hour and a bit, and then an hour and a bit more before eventually conceding that the tie would not go ahead on Saturday night.
Rescheduled for tonight, Boca Juniors released a statement earlier in the day that hinted at their dissatisfaction with such an arrangement.
With tensions no doubt running high in the Argentine capital, it has now been decided three or so hours before kick-off that the game will not go ahead.
Game off, what a situation.
— Miguel Delaney (@MiguelDelaney) November 25, 2018
It’s postponed
— Jonathan Wilson (@jonawils) November 25, 2018
The farce amid the farce is that River opened the gates at 1.30pm to let fans in. They confirmed the game was on a few minutes later. At 2pm, Conmebol declared the game off. The lack of organisation is quite staggering.
— Rory Smith (@RorySmith) November 25, 2018
As yet, there is no scheduled date when River vs Boca will now take place. Intriguingly though, the winner of this Copa Libertadores tie is due to represent South America at the forthcoming Club World Championship in December.
Due to commence on the 12th of the month, one wonders will Conmebol find a resolution to this farce in enough time.
A very friendly Argentinean journalist has just made a valid point: the Club World Cup starts on December 12. There's a chance South America won't have a representative there.
— Rory Smith (@RorySmith) November 25, 2018
Having already allowed a certain number of fans into the stadium under the impression that the game would go ahead, when the announcement was eventually made that it had been postponed, those inside the ground were none too pleased.
Pissed-off River fans leaving the stadium pic.twitter.com/NaQj93c9QG
— Miguel Delaney (@MiguelDelaney) November 25, 2018
After such a hectic 24-hours of trying to get the game played, attention will now turn to how Conmebol best find a way of alleviating this potentially tricky scheduling issue.
