Boca Juniors & River Plate fans take over Madrid ahead of Copa Libertadores final (PHOTOS/VIDEO)
Thousands of Boca Juniors and River Plate fans are massing in Madrid ahead of their teams’ Copa Libertadores final second leg, which was contentiously moved to Spain from Argentina.
The game kicks off at Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu stadium in front of almost 80,000 fans at 8.30pm local time (19:30 GMT) on Sunday.
Many of those in attendance have made the 6,000-mile (10,000km) trip from Argentina to follow their teams despite the ongoing anger over the conclusion of South America’s biggest club fixture being switched to a different continent.
Ahead of the game, Boca fans gathered outside their team’s hotel, chanting: “It doesn’t matter where you play, we will always follow you.”
River fans were also seen moving en mass to the team hotel to offer full-throttle support.
River fans arriving at the team hotel. pic.twitter.com/u5p87kn93p
— Alex Kirkland (@alexkirkland) December 9, 2018
Both sets of fans took over areas of the city center, turning them into a sea of color in their respective club’s colors.
The atmosphere is already electric in Madrid ahead of the Copa Libertadores final this evening 🙌 pic.twitter.com/1bOMxaJ2p8
— ESPN UK (@ESPNUK) December 9, 2018
Both teams have been allocated 25,000 tickets for the tie, although sales in Argentina were restricted to 5,000 per team.
The decision came after violence marred the planned second leg in Buenos Aires when River Plate fans attacked a bus carrying Boca players to El Monumental stadium, injuring several of them while others were affected by police tear gas.
The South American football confederation has rejected an appeal from Boca to be awarded the title automatically, while last-ditch efforts to suspend the game were also dismissed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on Saturday.
READ MORE: CONMEBOL rejects Boca Juniors’ request to be crowned Copa Libertadores champions
Spanish police have warned that up to 500 hundred “especially dangerous” fans could be in the capital for the game, and a beefed-up security presence of 4,000 personnel will be deployed to maintain order for the match known as the Superclasico.
So far there has been no sign of the trouble that marred the postponed second leg in November.
The tie stands finely balanced at 2-2 after the first-leg draw at Boca's La Bombonera stadium on November 11.
