South American football officials were deliberating Friday on how to decide the result of a Libertadores Cup match between Argentine rivals Boca Juniors and River Plate that was halted after Boca fans pepper-sprayed River Plate players.
The South American Football Confederation’s disciplinary committee must decide whether to award River Plate a victory or have the clubs play the second half of a match that ended in pandemonium at 0-0 with 45 minutes left to play.
Boca’s iconic stadium, the Bombonera, was closed Friday morning after the previous night’s mayhem, which outraged commentators said marked a new low for Argentina’s violence-plagued football.
“Those who caused this disaster on the pitch at Boca have to pay for what they did. It was terrible,” Buenos Aires attorney general Martin Ocampo, who announced the closure of the stadium, told TV channel C5N.
River Plate players were returning for the second half when a fan or fans apparently fired pepper spray into the inflatable tunnel leading from the dressing rooms to the pitch.
The attack left several players rubbing their eyes in agony as teammates desperately threw water in their faces to try to relieve the pain.
“I can’t see, I can’t see. I am burning. This is not a war!” shouted defender Ramiro Funes Mori.
Doctors said four players suffered first-degree burns.
Television images showed a Boca fan with his face covered apparently introducing something into the inflatable tunnel from the seating area behind it.
Ocampo said prosecutors were investigating on the basis of that footage. They were also analysing the jerseys of the burnt players to determine exactly what the substance was, and have impounded the tunnel for analysis.
Intense rivalry
Boca-River Plate is one of the bitterest rivalries in football, and fan violence often mars the clubs’ clashes.
River Plate, nicknamed the “Millionaires,” are known as the club of the upper-middle class, while Boca are based in a tough immigrant neighbourhood.
Boca’s stadium, the Bombonera (“chocolate box”), is known as one of the rowdiest venues in football, a place where fans spend the entire match on their feet, crammed against the railings and willing their team to victory with sheer noise.
It was extra rowdy Thursday night for the second leg tie in the top club tournament in Latin America.
River Plate won the first leg of the so-called “super classic” 1-0, and Boca were fighting to come from behind and make the quarter-finals before a capacity home crowd of 60,000.
Despite the 1,200 police posted at the stadium, the scene degenerated into chaos as match officials spent more than an hour deciding what to do after the pepper spray incident.
Fans hurled rocks, bottles and other missiles as others climbed over a six-meter (20-foot) fence to invade the pitch.
After referee Dario Herrera called off the game, some players ran off with their heads covered in wet towels in case of new attacks. Riot police guarded others with a tunnel of shields to protect them from projectiles.
Boca condemned the violence, which player Marco Torsiglieri called “embarrassing” and “sad” in an apology to the River Plate players on Twitter.
‘Scandalous, shameful’
Commentators delivered a harsh verdict Friday.
“Scandalous,” “Shameful,” “A black day for football,” read some of the newspaper headlines in Argentina.
“If there was any dignity left in Argentine football, it was torn to shreds last night at the Bombonera,” said an editorial in daily Pagina/12. “Football and its leadership have hit bottom.”
The president of the Argentine Football Association, Luis Segura, said the unprecedented incident “is yet another stain on football and fuels the violence.”
Many Argentines are exasperated with unrest perpetrated by the country’s “barrabravas,” or hooligans.
Three people have died this year in football-related violence, which claimed 16 lives last year and 12 the previous year, according to activist group Let’s Save Football.
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