River Plate refuse to play Copa Libertadores final second leg at Bernabeu
Second-leg finely poised following 2-2 draw at La Bombonera
Saturday 1 December 2018 16:27, UK
River Plate have refused to play the second leg of the Copa Libertadores final against Boca Juniors at Real Madrid's Santiago Bernabeu.
In a statement released on Saturday, the Argentinian club contested the idea they were responsible for the violent scenes which took place around their El Monumental Stadium last Saturday.
They said it is "incomprehensible" Argentina's 'Superclasico' between the Buenos Aires rivals cannot take place domestically in a country which hosted the G20 summit this week.
River also argue moving the game to Spain's capital is "harmful" to the more than 66,000 fans who attempted to attend the game on two occasions and are now being "unjustifiably" denied the opportunity due to travel costs.
The second leg was originally postponed to the Sunday after the visiting Boca Juniors players were injured following an attack on their team bus.
However, South America's governing body CONMEBOL delayed the game further following a request from Boca.
The decision was then taken to rearrange the game to take place at the Santiago Bernabeu on December 9.
