Boca validated this Tuesday night with a goalless equality in their visit to Corinthians, in San Pablo, the “old importance” that ties had as a visitor for any score before the double validity of the away goal appeared, a rule that remained extinct as of this start of the Copa Libertadores round of 16.
That’s why when next week the “xeneizes” receive the Paulistas in the Bombonera, this Tuesday’s tie will surely be can be considered with the “double value” of having been achieved away from home, and no less than in Brazill.
Five Boca fans, delayed accused of committing acts of racism
Five Boca fans were arrested tonight in the vicinity of the Neo Química Arena stadium, in Corinthians, accused of carrying out racist acts against members of the São Paulo team.
According to what Télam was told by sources from the Criminal Court at the Corinthians stadium police station, The accusation against the first of the detainees was made by two local fans who filmed the aggressor, an Argentine who had no documents but is a resident of Brazil, dressed in a Boca shirt and imitating an ape to make fun of them..
The two complainants were Gabriel Ferreira and Guilherme Vieira. The first of them told Télam that they are “Tired of Boca fans always doing the same thing, with these racist attacks.”
For his part, Vieira stated that after these episodes he had “no desire to speak with the Argentine press or with any Argentine.”
This fact, labeled as “racial insult”, occurs just three days after Boca was fined by Conmebol with the payment of 100,000 dollars precisely for racist insults made by “xeneizes” fans to partial Corinthians that occurred during the meeting last May in the Bombonera, in the meeting that both starred in Zone E of the group stage of this Copa Libertadores.
After the arrest of the Boca fan, the Argentine consulate in San Pablo took action on the matter.
The Argentine fans, according to what police sources told Télam at the police station located in the basement of the Neo Química Arena stadium, could be transferred as early as Wednesday morning to another place of detention outside this sports arena, as happened with a Mendoza fan last April, when they played the first leg of the group stage here. He posted bail and was released.
Boca’s position affected the irresolute image that Corinthians left, especially in the first half, where those led by Sebastián Battaglia left the impression of being a team in permanent solidification, dull but efficient.
Boca was seen as a fortified team from the middle to the back like Boca, which, however, did not decline its attack options by having three well-planted forwards such as Exequiel Zeballos and Sebastián Villa on the sides, as right and left wines to the old football custom, and a center forward like Darío Benedetto settled between the two.
But as if this were not enough, Boca played with a “10” also “old data”, not a typical hitch. This man was the Paraguayan Óscar Romero.
It could be said then that the Boca de Battaglia that Juan Román Riquelme supervises from the Football Council, is a reversed image of that multi-winning team of Carlos Bianchi (with the distances of the case), which plays “the old way” to be effective in modern times.
And this match was no less a test for this team from Boca, because after going through a fairly long time of doubts, today they began to see what they are playing, or intending to do, in search of capturing an idea and starting from it to forge their own style.
The key, before, during and after, was the collective position before a massive commitment against the second of the Brasileirao, escort of the two-time champion of America, Palmeiras, who nevertheless had an unbeatable opportunity to win everything at the end of the first half.
Is that there was a criminal foul committed by Marcos Rojo that validated the VAR, which only began to act in this instance of the competition, and that the “specialist” Agustín Rossi magnificently contained Róger Guedes by launching himself to his right.
This action and another saved precisely by Rojo himself at the start of the complement were the two greatest risk actions promoted by the Brazilians.
While for Boca there was a free kick by Romero that Cassio took over his upper left corner in the second half that could also have changed the fate of the match.
But in the end everything was as it was at the beginning, and Boca, who had Eduardo Salvio’s farewell without entering and the Qatar Airways advertising on his shirtleft the former Arena Corinthians with a more “quarter-finalist” flavor than when he arrived in São Paulo.
