What a chaos in the Copa Libertadores! One of the most boring game in the tournament ended in a violent fight, one which we used to see on television, but in the eighties, between fans and the police. But now, here we are in 2021, seeing Boca Juniors players trying to attack Atletico Mineiro players after their elimination from the competition, and police throwing tear gas at the guests. El miedo que me da Rojito enojado pic.twitter.com/k7IwMyDEdL— Alfre Montes de Oca (@alfremontes) July 21, 2021 Everything started with a nullified Boca goal (their second one in two games against Atletico) after a long review of VAR, and after there were no goals in 90 minutes, the home team won after a 3:1 victory on penalties, eliminating Boca from the Copa Libertadores. On top of that, president of Atletico Mineiro, provoked the Boca players from the doorway of their dressing room, according to ‘La Nacion’, after which events took a turn for the worse. Boca Juniors players clash with police over Copa Libertadores exit and goal disallowed by VAR. 👀pic.twitter.com/MqqTzYl01j— 101 Great Goals (@101greatgoals) July 21, 2021 His provocations lead to an initial reaction from Boca’s Raul Cascini and players were seen on video shoving each other and throwing items. Police attempted to intervene in a bid to diffuse the escalating violence and they used tear gas. Boca legend Juan Roman Riquelme defended actions from his players. “When they were in the dressing room, you see a person in a suit who pushed the boys and insults them. The policemen threw gas in the players’ faces. They gas, what do you do? Do you defend yourself or do you let them hit you? You see the president throwing bottles, the police… they don’t say anything to them. That’s the truth” said the club’s vice-president. …And there’s Marcos Rojo grabbing a fire extinguisher. pic.twitter.com/hKAtOAb5T4— 101 Great Goals (@101greatgoals) July 21, 2021 Santiago Mayor, a Belo Horizonte police officer told to TyC Sports:“We have information that the match delegate said there was an aggression and at least three Boca players were identified as the aggressors. There are videos that show that there was contempt”. According to the Minas Gerais state military police, at least eight people, including five players, were identified using security footage at the Mineirao stadium. Former Manchester United defender Marcos Rojo was identified as one of five Boca Junior players accused of assault, causing bodily harm and destruction of public property. Marcos Rojo was identified in some photos while punching a security officer and then on another while holding a fire extinguisher to defend himself.The entire Boca Juniors delegation of players, coaches and officials was taken to a police station in Belo Horizonte to give statements. Boca were due to return home during the early hours of Wednesday morning but coach Miguel Angel Russo said they would only do so with a full compliment of players and staff.
