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ASUNCION: The South American football's governing board, CONMEBOL, confirmed on Thursday (November 29th) that the final stage of the Copa Libertadores between rivals River Plate and Boca Juniors will take place on December 9 at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium of Real Madrid.
Originally scheduled for last weekend at the Monumental de River stadium in Buenos Aires, it was postponed after Boca players were injured when their bus was attacked by their rivals' supporters by throwing projectiles.
Boca called on CONMEBOL's independent discipline committee to be awarded the trophy and expelled River from the competition, but that was also rejected on Thursday.
Instead, CONMEBOL hit the river with a two-game stadium closure "to be applied from 2019" in the official continental competitions, and "a $ 400,000 fine".
CONMEBOL President Alejandro Dominguez said at a press conference in Asuncion, in the Paraguayan capital, that fans of both teams would be admitted to Bernabeu, which was not the case at the time. initial shock.
"Madrid is the city with the largest Argentine population in the world, outside of Argentina," Dominguez said.
"It is the 10th safest city in the world, it has an airport with the best connectivity and is a city of football tradition."
"NO PLACE FOR THE HOOLIGANS"
He added that the supporters of both teams would be admitted to the Bernabeu, which was not the case during the initial shock.
Foreign fans have been banned from stadiums in Argentina since 2013 because of football-related violence that has killed more than 300 people in the last 50 years, according to a charity.
Dominguez had a message to send to hooligans, called barrabravas in Argentina, if they thought of attending the match.
"The 'barras' should not even dream of going in. There is no room for them.
"I'm sure the message that fans are going to send is what the world is waiting for: the fact that the good guys are going to win this time."
Several Boca players were injured by shards of glass and by smoke inhalation after Saturday's bus attack.
While CONMEBOL initially insisted that the match was going to unfold, the presidents of both teams agreed to postpone the return match for 24 hours.
But one day later, Boca refused to play again, insisting that they would be at a disadvantage, and the match was postponed indefinitely.
On Monday, Boca asked CONMEBOL to win but one day later, the governing body announced that the match would be played "out of Argentina".
The two rival teams from Buenos Aires drew in early November against the mythical Bombonera Arena Boca 2-2.
MADRID DOUBLE
The choice of Bernabeu means that the finals of the Copa Libertadores and the Champions League will be contested in Madrid at six months intervals.
The final of the competition of the best clubs of Europe will take place in the city of Atlético de Madrid, the rival of the city, Wanda Metropolitano, on June 1.
Several cities and stadiums contested the prestigious final clash organized in an Argentinian atmosphere, nicknamed the "superclasico" and the most important meeting of clubs in the history of the country.
Possible venues ranged from Genoa in Italy to Asuncion and even to Doha, the capital of Qatar.
But Madrid won, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez tweeted that the country "is ready to hold the final".
He said Spain had "great experience of such events and was already working on the deployment required to ensure the security of this event".
The Bernabeu has a capacity of more than 80 000 places.
According to the National Statistics Institute of Spain, 72,000 Argentines legally live in the European country.
River and Boca are the two most popular teams in Argentina. They are responsible for 70% of the country's football fans.
They won the Copa Libertadores nine times between them. While Boca has won the title twice more times, River has skyrocketed just recently in 2015.
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