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| River Plate - Boca Juniors (2-0) |
| Torneo Apertura, 08 August 2004 |
| Stadium : Monumental |
| Attendance : 62.000 |
I went early to the stadium because usually in this kind of matches the stadium gets full quickly, so two hours before kick-off we were in our seats. We got tickets for the 'Belgrano Alta' section. This is on the long side of the pitch, on the second tier.
A while before the match started both sides, River and Boca, were singing effusively. The Boca fans were singing about the matches in the Libertadores cup semi finals in which they defeated River. The local River fans were remembering that in those matches, where just local fans could enter the stadium, River took 72.000 people while Boca just took 40.000.
Before the match there was a match between both reserves teams which Boca won 3-1. There where still some empty spaces in the middle of both stands behind the goals, reserved to the main supporters, called the 'barrabravas'.
A couple of minutes before the teams entered the pitch, 'Los Borrachos del Tablon'(River fans) got into the stands with their typical introducing song and white and red parasols and flags.
When the teams entered the pitch both supporters welcomed them with the traditional 'papel picado'(cutted paper). Boca fans cheered especially Carlos Tévez and Martin Palermo whose birthday was that day.
The first half was quite boring without any big opportunities to score. When the first half was coming to it's end, 'La Doce' arrived with their flags and bass drums.
The second half was quite equal but River's 'Gata' Fernández scored at the right time which made the River fans explode in happiness and human avalanches on the stands. Although 'La Doce' supported their team all along the match Boca couldn't get back into the match and in the end River's 'Pipino' Cuevas scored the final goal of the match, making it 2-0.
After the match the River fans had to wait 40 minutes for the Boca's fans to leave the stadium for security reasons. Although the Boca fans left the stadium singing about their past winning streak over River (5 matches), they couldn't be heared because of the deafening singing of 'Los Borrachos del Tablon'.
Pictures thanks to :
http://www.riverplate.com
Click here for more pictures.
Report added : 24 March 2005
Report by : Hernán Itzcovich
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