Boca Juniors’ appeal against the punishment dealt them by CONMEBOL in light of the attack on River Plate’s players during their Copa Libertadores last 16 tie was always very hopeful and yesterday it was dismissed, ending any remote chance of Boca being given an even more lenient penalty.

CONMEBOL’s court of Appeal confirmed that they had “dismissed the appeal by Argentina’s Boca Juniors against the decision by CONMEBOL’s Disciplinary Tribunal, which was filed under document O/ 69/15, on May 16, 2015. Therefore, the disciplinary decisions in its entirety will stand.”

This of course means that Boca are disqualified from this year’s Copa Libertadores and River Plate’s quarter final against Cruzeiro on Thursday can go ahead, relatively controversy free. The closure of La Bombonera for four intercontinental fixtures and the ban on away fans for a further four matches, in addition to the $200,000 fine all still stand.

With the appeal now dismissed hopefully a line can now be drawn under the whole incident although there are obviously much wider issues still to deal with in Argentine football, not solely at Boca Juniors.

In light of the whole incident, Boca president Daniel Angelici resigned from his position as vice-president at the AFA saying: “I don’t want to be part of something that does not work.” 

Boca have also named eleven club members that were involved in the pepper spray/acid attack as they now look to ban these people and cancel their memberships. This is a critical step because simply identifying the perpertrators does nothing and if Boca truly want to make a stand against the barra brava then they will need to act.