Scandal: Boca Juniors robbed vs. Atletico Mineiro, a brutal fight broke out

By
Osvaldo Godoy
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82

Boca Juniors were clearly affected by the refereeing, both in the 1st leg and in the 2nd leg against Atletico Mineiro in the Copa Libertadores. The Argentine club were eventually eliminated on penalties. After the game, Boca players, coaching staff, and directors ended up in a brutal fight against the Brazilian police, inside the changing rooms.

The match referee, Esteban Ostojich, who also refereed the Copa America final between Argentina and Brazil, called a non-existent offside on Diego González of Boca, after it was called by VAR.

It would have been 1-0 for Boca in Brazil, which would have then forced Atletico Mineiro to score two goals to qualify for the next round. After the VAR referees took a couple of minutes to make a decision, they decided to call the main referee to check the play, who finally called off a legitimate goal.

However, the same thing happened in the first leg. At La Bombonera, the referee, who was later suspended along with the VAR assistants by CONMEBOL, called a non-existent foul on a goal disallowed for Boca. Here are the two wrongly disallowed goals of Boca Juniors vs. Atletico Mineiro, in the first leg and the second leg:

What happened next, was expected to happen. Boca players, coaching staff, and directors ended up in a brutal fight against the Brazilian police inside the changing rooms. According to Boca, the Brazilian police started the fight by throwing tear gas at the players. There, everything exploded:


Jorge Bermúdez, former Boca player, today member of the board of directors, was outraged against the Brazilian police:

Sérgio Coelho, president of Mineiro, throwing water bottles at Boca players amid the incidents in the locker room corridors:

Marcos Rojo and the captain Carlos Izquierdoz punching the Brazilian police after being attacked by them:

Former Argentina defender Marcos Rojo threatening the police with a fire extinguisher in his hands. Jorge Bermúdez managed to stop him:

Raúl Cascini, Intercontinental champion with Boca as a player in 2003, today a member of the board of directors, enraged against the Brazilian police. Especially against police officer number 145 who, according to versions, had said something to Cascini for him to react that way:

After the conflicts, the police wanted to arrest two Boca players, Carlos Zambrano and Sebastián Villa, a number that later rose to eight.

Here, the members of Boca telling the Brazilian police that either they were “all leaving, or no one,” making it clear they will remain all together regardless of the circumstances:

The vice president and legendary former Boca player, Juan Román Riquelme, spoke with TyC Sports and destroyed CONMEBOL. This is what he had to say:

“This was never seen. A team that wins both games and is out! This is shameful. They did not let us advance.

“When you score two goals and they don’t want to allow them, nothing can be done.

“If they throw tear gas in your face, would you not defend yourself? Now they want to arrest one of our players. In Brazil it is always like this. The President of Mineiro threw bottles at us!”

In addition, Riquelme also pointed out what happened just a week ago in the match between Cerro Porteño and Fluminense, where the VAR assistants did not take into account a Brazilian player in the goal review, and disallowed a legitim goal for the Paraguayans.

Here, the VAR audios of the mistakenly disallowed goal of Cerro Porteño vs. Fluminense:

In addition, this Wednesday evening Boca Juniors issued a very harsh statement based on what happened, which President Jorge Amor Ameal signed. Below, some of the harshest parts:

“What happened marks an unprecedented event, as it is the only case whereby winning the two games in the series a club is eliminated from the competition.

“Once again we have been harmed by decisions that have little to do with sports and a lot to do with the arbitrary management of a competition that does not deserve it.”

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82 Comments

  1. If i pick the players just from local league ,not to say buendia ,foyth ,romero ,benjamin.Garre(injuried),I will choose the follows
    GK : Juan Musso
    LB : E Barco
    CD : N perez ,F medina
    RB : Weigandt
    Wingers: De la vega ,Zeballos
    CM: M Payero ,Paradela ,
    False 9: Alan Velasco
    FW :Jose Lopez

  3. I had followed argentina local league for a period.of time .The main problems are

    1, physically weak and lack of speed ,even 180cm player can be as slow as turtle .Never seen a young player run as fastly as di maria .If you are not skillful you must be physically strong and fast .

    2, No tactics at all .No patient to creat chance always move forward one on one .So you may see they are prone to lost the ball possession.

    Bear in mind ,In local league ,Those players are attacking midfielders when go abroad they are just DM material or Box to Box Material .technically they are not good enough .Never seen a player near neymar or de bruyne nor Busquets.

  4. From what I seen in local league ,I pick out the following players .They are our future but definitely most of the players in Olympic team aren’t within the list

    Defense

    CD : Romero ,Balerdi ,N Perez ,Foyth ,F Medina

    LB: E barco ,Franco Vezzoni

    RB : Marcelo weigandt ,Eric Meza ,Joaquin Garcia

    DM : Francisco Lo celso ,Julian Aude ,Joaquin Pereyra, Kevin Zenon (a winger now but can developed into a DM ), Cristian Medina ,David Ayala ,Alan Varela

    Pacemaker : Martin payero ,Jose paradela ,Buendia ,Aaron molinas ,Matias Soule ,

    Wingers: Venezuela, Benjamin Garre ,Dario sarmiento ,E Zeballos ,De la vega ,L orellano

    False 9 : Alan velasco ,Facundo farias

    FW :Gaich ,F colidio, Jose manuel Lopez
    Hopeful the one from Stuttgart can come to argentina team ,he now is with Germany team he is talent . just forget his name .

  5. I had already said before this team won’t pass first round because i follow every friendly matches .

    The main problem is foreign and local club doesn’t release players. Some of the players are not national material .Those promising young player such as Benjamin garre , ZEBALLOS ,Facundo Farias ,Aaron Molinas ,Alan Velasco ,Dario samiento ,F colidio ,Cristian Medina never allow to play .

    But this team still have some talent players such as E barco ,De la vega,Martin Payero ,Gaich ,Venezuela ,F medina ,N Pérez.

    actually the problem are the LB ,RB and attacking midfield.

    PLAYER RATINGS
    GK :5 nothing special

    ortega : 2 Very slow ,despite skillful but we need strong LB rather than that ,physically he fails.

    Medina : 5 he is good and talent Can be LB ,national team material

    N perez: 5 the same to Medina

    De la fuente : 0 never play well in every friendly, very slow nothing special a poor player .

    colombatto : 3 skillful but as a DM he isn’t speedy enough ,his future won’t be too bright

    F vera : 3 nothing special when partner colombatto in midfield .never improve from U20 that’s why no offer from Europe. don’t think he can be national team material .Physically he is too weak and slow .

    Mcallister: 2 poor and disappointing, his last friendly is good but defintely he isn’t a no.10 type .He may be a box to box type later but physically is weak ,So his future won’t be so bright .

    E barco :7 the best player the most promising player .fast ,skillful. Hopefully he can be another Acuna .National team material.

    Venezuela : 6 good performance ,a winger however physically he is weak perhaps he can be another popular gomez .

    Gaich :5.5 midfield didn’t support him ,but he can dribble ,can shoot and strong .I think his performance is ok .Definitely national team material

    Payero : 6 very impressive and talent ,tall strong ,skillful lo celso type .national team material .

    De la vega: 5.5 Didn’t show too much but show a lot in local league ,he is the youngest player .

    Ponce : 4 useless never impress me in friendly .

    Herrera: 5 not too bad but not too good ,just an averaged player.

    Belmonte: 4 Physically as a DM he didn’t qualify ,too slim .

    All in all this is a relatively poor team ,But some players are useful .

  7. early days – but tough to predict who is clear cut favorite for Olympics.
    1) Brazil looked good ( minus the GK Santos ) ,
    2) Spain looked toothless on final third ( regular problem ) while possession is always well managed ..
    So both of them seem to have one core issue..

    3) Japan with home conditions.
    4) Surprisingly South Korea also lost while they are good on paper.
    5) France anyway was a weak team .
    6) Germany also dosent look strong.
    7) Can we show the mental resolve to bounce back.. looks tough & lot of yellow cards. So last game against spain we may have suspensions also. But still hoping.

    • It really seems that without the stars,the future of Argentina, after the Messi era is in a very pathetic state. I’m not saying this based on today’s performance; but seeing how the youngsters are not getting placed in some big clubs. No one literally seems to have interest with Argentine talents. Harsh, but reality is often bitter.
      It is shame, that the youngsters of a country which has produced two finest footballers of all time is struggling to get some good clubs (let alone top clubs). AFA should seriously fix this as soon as possible, else it will hit rock bottom after Messi’s era.

      It is understable to accept defeat from Brazil or Germany, but not at all understable to face defeat from Australia (even when they are also playing with u23 players).

  9. Poor tactical display. There are some good moments, but that’s all. Not much to say as such. Not a good team.

    Some people here get too sensitive about players, cannot accept reality. But there is a reason why these players play where they are playing.

    Having said that, you never know where talent will come from. Some of these players can develop. Its very important to have a solid system. I think that is where Scaloni is doing better.

    Ideally at every age level you should play the same system. The transition is better for the players growing up then. But we don’t have infrastructure and money for that kind of investment.

    Best bet for us is to create a defensive system, don’t lose. That will help to survive in tournaments. And its easier to implement a defensive system with relatively not so talented players. You can good progress.

  10. Japan is a cursed place for Argentina Football Team. Anyone remember 2002 WC??? I still get nightmares, it has been 20 years already.

  11. While our game was a disaster , lets see if the boys bounce back . The player quality is average compared to previous Olympics squads. But the team chemistry Batista has built in last 3 years is solid ( i wont discount that based on today’s show) . Lets remember this team won CONEMBOL Preolympic tournament . Today was a horrible start & the 1st half red card killed us against a spirited opposition. Clearly our full backs are mediocre & not taking an overage player for a full back & maybe additional striker hurt us bad.
    After all for an Argentine fan – we have run on hope for more than 2 decades. Lets continue that for next 2 matches😊. Its the Group of Death & Spain also didnt impress. Inspite of Gaich having a v poor match , i wld still look at Gaich, De La Vega, Almada ( surprisingly not even in bench today) , Payero , NPerez , Vera in NT’s future .

  13. Absolutely pathetic from the Argentine team in the Olympics.
    This is the reason I wonder why almost of all them plays for tier 3 leagues or soon to be relegated teams, the future of Argentina NT is seems pretty horrible.
    Many here claim Gaich as a beast, but the truth is that he is a poor quality cat. Argentina itself is a global brand in the footballing world, but got lost and that also against Australia.
    Shambolic.

  14. Playing offencively cause counter from opponts. It’s a fact. Australia easily got 2 goals.If Arg. stood defencively in starting Aust.cant capitalise. Thy are not a serious threat actually. Arg. wasted the chance to thrash them by this poor tactics..

  15. Man most of these ex WC u20 2019 players don’t show any significance growth in 3 years. I thought that generation was a bit more talented than the previous 3 generations, but I am disappointed that they are stuck there just like how they were 3 years ago.

    My rating:
    Ledesma 7: Not bad, had a point blank save. Could have been 0-3 for Aussie.

    De La Fuente 4

    N. Perez 4: He was very promising in the WC u20, what happens to him? Just hope he will get better.

    Medina 3: even worse

    Ortega 2: even worse

    Vera 4: He has a bit of potential but very poor work rate.

    Colombatto 4: bad

    MacAllister 3: the worst #10 ever. Cant dribble cant pass no pace bad at set pieces. very slow, small, and doesnt defend. Complete package of a failure for a number 10. I think Brighton read too many Mundo comments when scouting for him.

    Barco 6: The only one creating the danger.

    Valenzuela 4: very average winger.

    Gaich 4: 1 golden chance and everything else is poor

    Batista needs a complete change for the second game.

    • 93-94 generation was the most talented since the crazy, God-level 87-88 gen (Messi, Aguero, di Maria, Banega, Higuain, Papu, Perotti etc.) with Dybala, Icardi, Correa, Paredes, Lanzini, Ocampos, De Paul, Guido Rodriguez. 95-96 a weaker generation overall only Angel Correa, late boomer Buendia and Lo Celso is there plus disappointing Gio Simeone and Pavon…97-98 is very strong again (Lautaro, C. Romero, Lisandro Martinez, Senesi, Nicolas Gonzalez, Montiel, Palacios, Ascacibar, Foyth, Macallister, Nico Dominguez etc…this 99-2000 series seemed weak from the first minute, maybe the weakest since 91-92 or 89-90…2001-2002 will be very strong again with Thiago Almada, Alan Velasco, De la Vega, Facundo Farias, Orozco, Zeballos, Medina, Matias Palacios, Alan Varela, Sforza, David Ayala. 4-5 players from them will be big, regular NT-level.

      • Many of these current geng seems to prioritize $$$ over silverware. I mean, playing at MLS at young age (Barco and Bravo) ? that’s suppose to be a destination for players who has retired from senior NT in their mid 30s lol. Look at the forwards… two players who that spent their youth at Russian league.

        Also, how’s Batista still in charge after more than a decade? he won the 2008 gold with a squad that strong enough to win a WC , that’s hardly an achievement lol. The players at the time basically played the same football they’ve been playing under Basile and Pekerman with Batista basically doing nothing.

      • yeah agree with u on each generation talent, the good thing is the 97-98 talent is packed with a lot of Scaloni’s favorite players.

        Sometimes there are late bloomers tho, someone who go unnoticed and then suddenly become a lot better after 25+ years of age. Sometimes there are also those who start very brilliantly but then made very few improvements as they got older. For example, Javier Saviola is arguably the best ever U20 player, Barca bought him but then he was not that good in his career. Same case with a lot of England players like Owen, Walcott, etc.

        It is only one game, let’s see how our Olympic team performs.

  17. Players are talented but tactics and approach of this idiotic MGT. is the reason for this teams poor start.Main reason I think Thy could take 3 overage best players. tht is not happened hr. I can’t think why this federn.and MGT. misusing this advantage..

  19. This team is dead in this form, the same story as in 2016. Germany, France and Argentina went with very weak squads, here the results…Colombatto, Valenzuela, Barco or Gaich or our side backs wont be serious players, they are not talented or mentally prepared (Barco) enough, why not plays Thiago Almada the only real world class potential or De la Vega the second most talented? Its not coincidence Colombatto in Mexico, Barco in MLS, Valenzuela in a tiny portugal club’s bench, Gaich in small clubs they wont be great. Even Macallister in Brighton, they wont imrpove drastically its too late, the 2000+ players could.

  20. Seeing the Olympic team at work makes me realize we should relish the Copa win even more. If this bunch is the future, it will be a long time after WC 2022 before we see a tournament winning squad again.

    • Cause? France (1-4) and Germany (0:3 in half time) say the same? In a full strongest olympic squad maybe 1 or 2 players would be there from this team.

      • Because the opponent is Australia, not Nigeria or another team well known for its strong youth squads.

        • Argentina-Australia 3:4 in 97 U20 WC with Cambiasso, Riquelme, Aimar etc, in 2004 Olympics 1:0 with Ayala, Heinze, Kily, Lucho, Mascherano, Dalessandro, Tevez etc….in 2008 1:0 with Messi, Riquelme, Aguero, Di Maria, Lavezzi, Mascherano, Garay, Zabaleta etc…Argentina dont take this Olympics seriously with this weak squad. What do deserve a team without overaged players? Every team use this rule, but not Argentina.

          • Then let’s hope this bunch is not our future. Every position is weaker than in 1996, 2004 and 2008. Under Bielsa we won every game and if I remember well did not concede a single goal. If you compare the 1996, 2004 and 2008 Olympic squads with the NT a few years later a lot of players made it on senior level. This time however…

          • This is Argentina B-C. Lautaro, Nico Gonzalez, Palacios, Macallister, Cristian Romero, Lisandro Martinez, Montiel, Molina, Foyth, Julian Alvarez are all regular NT-players and all will improve, and a lot more will be.

    • Uh, did players like De Paul, Paredes, Romero and Martinez won anything at youth level?

      Did Batigol, Redondo, Simeone, Caniggia won thropy at youth level? or Burruchaga and Valdano?

      Its great to find new talent in youth teams that could be integrated to senior side but there’s tons of great talents outside these 20+ players.

    • Almada is in 22 squad. But only 7 subs allowed in game. Surprisingly batista didnt see almada good to be in 18man team for this match

      • Coach is an idiot. He didn’t pick 3 over aged players. Just see…Dani Alves playing for Brazil.
        And he has any tactics?
        I don’t think we can beat Spain or Egypt. We already out.

  22. I think batista should use bravo instead of ortega , de la Fuente is useless in every friendly match . Vera doesn’t improve from u20 .

    Herrera Perez medina bravo
    Venezuela Payero colombatto barco

    De la vega
    Gaich

  24. Look at Brazil. Thy include37 year old Dani Alves .Arg. I couldn’t believe what thy r thinking. Lots of players in Primera are looking to get a chance to play for NT. This idiot MGT. never let them to show thr worth.

  26. Total disappointment in 1st half. The full backs proved they are really not upto the mark at this level . Ortega then has killed the game with his red card. Even if we get a draw in 2nd half – we shld be happy. Group of Death is going to be really choking now for Argentina.

  28. Arg.olimpic team not taking this tournmnt seriously. Thy r considering just a participation. In previous olimpic same is the situation. poor federation. Never capitalising the chance to play 3 overage players.

  29. First half notes:
    Both De La Fuenta and Ortega really poor. Mcallister is the worst Argentina players I have ever seen wearing number 10 in the last 40 years.

    The defense really poor. When being countered, Argentina only put 4 players in the back. Should have been 0-2 for Australia. The tactic very poor. Too offensive minded, unbalanced, very vulnerable when being countered.

    The MC duo of Colombatto and Vera pretty good passing wise but very poor work rate as they did not want to defend.

    Valenzuela is average technically but always tries hard.

    Gaich is poor got no supply.

    The only one who was pretty good is Barco. And yes no Almada among the subs.

    And Ortega just got a red card for being stupid.

  35. Batista could try Buendia, Ocampos, Lamela and Palomino for Olympic.

    Spain and Brazil are taking Olympic very seriously. Our team has no edge over them. As over age player, Ledesma has not proved to be any difference maker. Let’s see.

    Regarding Romero, he wants to stay one more year at Atalanta. With wc ahead, this is a good decision. Only a move to Barcelona may be a better decision, but he would have a inferior and stubborn manager there.

  36. Timely move for Brian Romero. He has established himself as a top forward in Argentina, flourishing at Defensa. At 29, he is at a prime age and top of his game and if he can shine at River, then it would be a blessing. Playing for River opens the door to NT, and I wouldn’t mind seeing this man in NT especially at this time with a quality goal scorer lacking for the NT.
    Brain Romero could be just another valuable tool in this fine machine the NT is developing.
    But, it needs a coach with a broad vision, with a great eye for details, and who picks players on merit and not a sentimental fool, who picks his squad based on “they were there when we won that thing”.

    • I like the fact that braian romero is clearly a tournament guy. Proved it in copa sudamericana last year & now in libertadores knockout. Also a hard worker off the ball. But what needs to be seen is what is his output at a higher level as folks like benedetto, matias suarez, pratto didnt do much in NT. But romero merits a chance in one of the upcoming qualifiers or future friendlies. Maybe a surprise packet like schillaci in italia 90.

  37. Spurs is not a place for C. Romero.Atalanta is best for him or he can come to Barcelona. In Real Madrid there are already Alaba,Miltao,Nacho are there so Barça would be best but seems tough as Barça does not have money to buy him

    • Of course he’d refuse, Atalanta is a fine club, one of Italy’s best infact and not only does the club play CL but it happens to be competitive at it too. Spurs on the other hand is a sadly a joke of a “big club”, basically the club version of England i.e. a club that’s famous for being famous and not because of it’s accomplishments.
      Pochettino was the only reason that this club had a modicum of respect and success and now that he’s gone, so are their hopes of making the top 4. The big problem is that Celso is still there and I fear that his potential will be snuffed out.

    • Hope you are right. I am very sure that Romero thinks that he can play in a bigger club than Hotspur. I think he is waiting for Barca. Dont know how Barca can afford him but the chance to play for Barca with Messi and Aguero is very tempting.

      In Copa, after the tournament, many of the players hugged Messi but few of them hugged AND talked to Messi for a while while hugging. 2 of them are Romero and Emi. I am sure Messi knows that Romero is a quality. Maybe he says “come to Barca. I will talk to the management.” Who knows?

      Messi knows his Barca is fine attacking wise but their defense need help.

    • Oh and one more thing. Barca is seriously looking to add one more defender. They only have 3: Araujo, Pique, and Eric Garcia. Lenglet and Umtiti are not in their plans. I read they are linked to Romagnoli of Milan and Mattias Ginter, other than Romero.

      It seems like they are confident that they can buy one defender this summer.

      • Unless Barca makes a series of high profile sales they’re not gonna buy any one because they’re beyond broke, so if you think that C.Romero is going there, then you’ll sadly be very disappointed.

  39. Bad round of sixteen in the Libertadores. Only Argentinian team remaining is River. Racing, Boca, Defensa, and Velez are all out. The Velez lost was avoidable and unfortunate. Defensa have had their squad pretty diminished. River and Flamengo are probably the biggest contenders. At least Crespo is representing Sao Paulo

  40. Will be interesting to see which side Boca fans support in quarter finals as River Plate meets Atletico Mineiro. Also Nacho vs River will be interesting to watch.

  41. Shortly after the win, somebody here (forgot the name) was suggesting that the REF. was on his best behavior because the FIFA president was in the stands along side other bigwigs.
    Interesting observation since there was no drama to speak of and no running the clock beyond the set extra time.
    The REF. cheated ARG in the last Copa America and it was as clear as the sun and I’m just glad he either developed a conscience or was shackled by the attendees this time around.

    and for the gentleman down here mentioning how players are role models to kids and such which also includes standing up for yourself when you’re cheated and maybe, just maybe somebody will do something about it in the future.

  42. CONEMBOL are rogues & Boca players anger fully justified . Its a miracle we won the Copa America without controversies . Next time we have a 28 man squad in a South American based tournament , would love to see Rojo in 😁 . We need some thugs to counter these scoundrels!

    • I think its harder for that ref & conmebol to pull that crap because they’re fully aware the whole world is watching and paying attention , since majority wants Messi to finally win thropy.

      Messi photo with Copa thropy on IG breaks a record for sports related pic with most “likes”.

    • It has nothing to do with miracles Amit, it’s all to do with Lio Messi speaking out and making A LOT of noise about that sham semi-final match and even though he got suspended, it did put a lot of pressure on COMNBOL and Brazil, add that to the fact that even some people in Brazil were on Messi’s side and wanted him to win.

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