RIVER PLATE’S Superclasico clash with heated rivals Boca Juniors descended into chaos during stoppage time last night, with SIX players sent off following a 15-minute brawl.
With the match entering what should have been its closing stages and the score level at 0-0, River were awarded a penalty.
Miguel Borja converted from the spot, sending the 83,000 fans in attendance at Estadio Monumental into sheer delirium.
A subsequent incident between River Plate’s Agustin Palavecino and Boca’s former Manchester United goalkeeper Sergio Romero prompted pandemonium that would see the game extended by 15 minutes.
Romero, 36, later claimed to have been goaded by Palavecino – moving to get him out of his face.
Team-mates spotted the incident between the two players, charging over to back their men up.
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After the match, Romero claimed: “We leave with a very bitter and sad feeling.
“Palavecino came to shout the goal in our faces. I reacted well, I went to grab him by the waist and tell him why I was doing that.
“My team-mates thought I was going to fight and they all came.”
Romero could be seen tussling with Nicolas de la Cruz as Borja ran off to celebrate his goal.
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As Borja finally turned round to see what was going on, virtually every other player was seemingly involved in a huge scrap that saw riot police enter the field.
Even coaches Martin Demichelis and Jorge Almiron got involved, with the latter being sent off, along with his players Miguel Merentiel, Ezequiel Fernandez and Nicolas Valentini.
Palavecino, Ezequiel Ignacio Centurion and Elias Gomez were red carded for River.
After the match, former Manchester City defender Demichelis said of his old Argentina team-mate: “I appreciate Sergio (Romero) and I love him very much. He knows me a lot as a person on the pitch and off it.
“I don’t know what he was referring to with what he said. Sometimes the passion overcomes everything because of how the result was given. In Argentina we can’t stand losing – (we’d rather) let them kill us.”
River’s 26-cap former Argentina midfielder Enzo Perez, 37, added: “Terrible madness came out from all sides, and luckily we were able to keep three important points in a Superclasico.
“It is not good for the show. There were a lot of people who got involved from both sides, the coaching staff, players who were not in the squad.
“We try to separate, calm down, so that some go one way and others the other, but when there are so many people who don’t have to be on the pitch, with the nervousness from outside, it’s difficult.”
The match eventually ended after 19 minutes of stoppage time, with eight-man River seeing out the 1-0 win over Boca.
Their win saw them stay nine points clear of second-place San Lorenzo in the table, with Boca a lowly 13th.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
