Copa Libertadores final 2018: Carlos Tevez says Boca ‘not in condition to play’ after bus attack

The match is scheduled to go ahead this evening despite the hospitalisation of two Boca players

Miguel Delaney
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Saturday 24 November 2018 22:54 GMT
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Boca vs River Plate bus attack

Carlos Tevez has said that Boca Juniors are “not in a condition to play” the second leg of the Copa Libertadores final, which has been delayed after the club’s bus was attacked by River Plate fans.

The decisive second leg has been delayed for more than two hours this evening after Boca players were hurt when their bus was attacked on its way into the stadium, organisers said.

Two Boca players, Pablo Perez and Gonzalo Lamardo, were sent to a local hospital as a result of their injuries.

“We are not in condition to play. They're forcing us to play the game,” Tevez said on FOX.

Despite Boca’s resistance to playing in the final, the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) has insisted the match will go ahead.

The delays came after a after a chaotic afternoon outside the Monumental stadium in Buenos Aires.

Police fired tear gas at River fans who were throwing missiles at the Boca bus, only for the gas to get into the vehicle and affect the players.

“They were throwing pepper gas, stones, everything,” Clarin website quoted Juan Carlos Crespi, a member of the Boca delegation, as saying.

Boca officials told reporters some of their players were not fit to play in the match and that captain Pablo Perez was taken to hospital after being cut by shards of glass.

“The players are all hurt, you can't play this way,” Christian Gribaudo, Boca's secretary general, said.

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