Argentine football plunged to a new low with the world watching as for the first time in the fierce rivalry between Boca Juniors and River Plate crowd trouble meant that the match needed to be abandoned. Truly remarkable scenes in La Bombonera meant that a supposedly banned Boca supporter managed to use a blow-torch to open a hole in the players tunnel before spraying the River players with pepper spray. Nearly two hours later with the players essentially trapped on the pitch and several River players obviously unable to really see, the match was abandoned and then another hour passed before with a heavy police guard the players could leave under a deluge of bottles. Remarkably the Boca players, who had tried to claim that they should play the second half in spite of what happened, then saluted those “supporters” who had remained in the stadium.

An absolutely disgraceful night in Argentine football inadequately responded to by everyone at CONMEBOL and Boca Juniors. All those involved should be well and truly ashamed.

There is still no official word on what is the result of the tie. Will they attempt to play the second 45 minutes? Will Boca be kicked out of the competition? Will La Bombonera be closed for future continental competitions? The fallout will continue for some time and we should find out the answers to at least these questions.

Boca Juniors  0 – 0  River Plate (suspended at half time)