CONMEBOL on Thursday confirmed that the twice-postponed Copa Libertadores final second leg between Argentine rivals River Plate and Boca Juniors will be played on December 9 at Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu stadium.
Originally scheduled for last weekend at River’s Monumental stadium in Buenos Aires, it was postponed after some Boca players were injured when their team bus came under attack from their arch rivals’ fans throwing projectiles.
Boca appealed to CONMEBOL’s independent disciplinary committee to be awarded the trophy and have River expelled from the competition, but that was also rejected on Thursday.
Instead, Conmebol hit River with a two-game stadium closure “that will be applied from 2019” in official continental competitions, and “a $400,000 fine.”
CONMEBOL president Alejandro Dominguez said in a press conference in Asuncion, the Paraguayan capital, that Real president Florentino Perez had offered use of the Bernabeu “for free.”
“Madrid is the city with the biggest Argentine population in the world, outside Argentina,” said Dominguez.
“It’s the 10th safest city in the world, it has the airport with the greatest connectivity, and it’s a city with a football tradition.”
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