River Plate 'football mafia' behind Boca Juniors attack, says mayor
Monday 26 November 2018 15:27, UK
A River Plate group of fans labelled a "football mafia" were behind the attack on Boca Juniors' bus, the mayor of Buenos Aires has said.
Argentina's two biggest rivals, Boca Juniors and River Plate, were meant to play each other in the second leg of South America's equivalent of the Champions League final for the first time in the competition's 58-year history on Saturday.
But the Copa Libertadores game was postponed by 24 hours after several Boca Juniors players were injured when their team bus was ambushed on the way to River's Estadio Monumental.
Tear gas - used by police and intended to calm the trouble - instead entered the bus and left several players vomiting, including former Manchester United and Manchester City striker Carlos Tevez.
Sunday's rescheduled match was then again called off due to crowd trouble.
Buenos Aires mayor Horacio Rodriguez Larreta said the violence was a revenge attack, provoked by a police raid on the home of a leader of Barra Brava - a River fan group known for its violence.
Larreta described them as "a mafia who have been embedded in football for more than 50 years".
"They are responsible for these incidents," he told reporters. "This is directly related to the episode the day before. So 300 people were not allowed in and they were the principal protagonists of everything that happened."
He called on both clubs to help an investigation into how the group obtained tickets, but said overcoming the "mafia" was the "biggest challenge".
South American football's governing body CONMEBOL, will meet with the presidents of both clubs on Tuesday to decide when the final can be re-played.
The first leg finished 2-2 at Boca's stadium.
