Superclasico, River Plate beats Boca Juniors, on-court brawl and seven eliminations

A scandalous end, marked by a gigantic collective brawl that required the use of law enforcement officers. Thus ended the 260th Argentine Superclasico, which River Plate won in extremis in front of the collective anger that shamed the press and public opinion. In the end, referee Dario Herrera drew nine yellow cards and seven red cards, whistled after an 18-minute break and with the police on the sidelines. An evening that went smoothly until the 93rd minute, when ex-Livorno player Borja converted a penalty awarded following intervention from the Var area, instead ended in total chaos due to a heated argument between Palavecino and ex-Sampdoria player Romero. From then on, a violent uproar under the eyes of a monumental packed with 85,000 people was hardly calmed.

goal and great fight

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Referee Herrera kept the pulse of the challenge until injury time thanks to a rigid direction that cooled the excitement on the pitch already in the first half thanks to seven yellow cards. But Herrera was unable to do anything after Borja’s decisive goal from 11 yards out, the result of a penalty awarded after Sandez had fouled Palavecino in the penalty area. It seems to have sparked the general uproar by the latter’s provocative celebration after the former Livorno player’s penalty was converted, celebrating by showing off a religious jersey as a runaway turf invasion erupted behind him.

moments of fear

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From the spit between Palavecino and Romero to the general fist fight, it was a moment. Within seconds, players from both benches, including staff and coaches, were pouring onto the field for a heated exchange of kicks, jabs and punches. Slaps and directives were also handed out to some players who shouldn’t even have been on the sidelines injured, like Marcos Rojo and Paulo Diaz (two of the most keen). With one minute left to play, referee Herrera had to stop the game for 18 minutes, the time it took officials and law enforcement to restore some semblance of calm while the Var room examined the images to identify the guilty and the violent. For almost 20 minutes, the monumental field turned into a ring without borders, from which someone (like Merentiel) emerged with visible marks on his face. In the end, the match director unceremoniously dealt cards and threw out six players (three on each side) as well as Boca coach Jorge Almiron. But further disqualifications are likely to follow in the next few days after a closer look at the pictures