The meeting of the sixth day of the group stage of the Copa Sudamericana (the second most prestigious club tournament sponsored by CONMEBOL) between the Peruvian ‘Universitario’ and the Argentine ‘Gimnasia’ from La Plata at first glance did not herald a storm. of passions The guests confidently closed the table of the quartet, and in order to continue the fight, it was enough for the hosts not to lose too much to the outsider in order to confidently proceed to the next stage. But when it comes to South America, you can never be completely sure that the schedule game that starts off calmly will be completed within the allotted time. More than once or twice fervent fans from Brazil, Argentina and other countries interrupted the game, forcing the football authorities to take measures of varying degrees of severity. This time the instigators of the scandal were the direct participants in the meeting.
FC “University”
signal to attack
The match slowly came to an end. Universitario won 1-0 thanks to a goal scored before halftime and was preparing to celebrate the pass to the next round. In addition, their opponents played the match in a minority. But after the main referee sent another Gymnastics player to the locker room earlier than expected, the guests lost control of their emotions or simply decided to shout goodbye to the tournament. One way or another, a series of small skirmishes quickly turned into a real wall-to-wall fight. At first, the host side tried to calm the fighters down with the help of the stewards, but this only inflamed passions on the pitch. Stadium workers were beaten along with other opponents in the massacre. It was possible to stop the nightmare that was happening on the lawn and beyond only after the intervention of the police, and even then not immediately. After that, the main referee, as if nothing had happened, busily reached into his pocket for a red card. Interestingly, in this situation, he clearly decided to hold the guests responsible for the incident, perhaps so as not to further aggravate the situation in the stands. As a result, only goalkeeper José Carvalho, who stood out especially in a fistfight for the honor of Peruvian football, and one of the substitutes were withdrawn from Universitario. But their rivals received six more red cards on top of the two previously shown. Therefore, the continuation of the game ceased to make sense – the players of “Khimnasia” left very few.
CONMEBOL
CONMEBOL
they punished themselves
At the same time, curiously, Universitario suffered more in this situation. The team continues the campaign for the biggest prize and, at least in the first playoff game against the formidable Corinthians, will have to do without the main goalkeeper. In addition, it is almost certain that CONMEBOL will consider the events that occurred on the field and issue its own verdict, which will clearly be much less humane for the Lima club than the decision of the main referee.
FC “University”
The option of disqualifying the stadium is also not excluded, and then the team will have no arguments in the fight against the great Brazilian. So university students should not succumb to provocations, unless, of course, the main thing for them is victory, not participation.
