Copa Libertadores final postponed again following bus attack

Copa Libertadores final postponed again following bus attack
Copyright 
By Reuters
Share this articleComments
Share this articleClose Button

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - The rescheduled second leg of the Copa Libertadores soccer final between River Plate and Boca Juniors was postponed again on Sunday hours before it was due to start, organizers said, after Boca complained the match could not be played under fair conditions.

The decisive leg had been scheduled to be played on Saturday but was suspended until Sunday after Boca players were injured when their bus was attacked by River fans outside their Monumental stadium in Buenos Aires.

"We don't want there to be any excuses that conditions were not equal for both teams," Alejandro Dominguez, the president of the South American soccer confederation CONMEBOL, said on TV. "We want both teams to have time to recover."

Earlier in the day the Boca Juniors club requested the second leg of the Copa Libertadores final be suspended, saying the game could not take place under conditions that were equal for both teams.

It was the first time Argentina's two biggest clubs had met for the title. The crosstown showdown had been billed as the greatest final in the competition's 58-year history.

But Saturday's scheduled final will instead be remembered for the violence that left players bleeding and almost all the windows on one side of the Boca bus shattered.

(Reporting by Andrew Downie; Editing by Daniel Flynn and Phil Berlowitz)

Share this articleComments

You might also like

Enthusiastic opening to the 2020 World Judo Tour

Turkey upset world champion France with a 2-0 home win

Rights groups criticise Formula One over Bahrain stance