Controversial Copa Libertadores Final: Red Cards and Slap Define Boca Juniors vs Fluminense Match

This definition of the Copa Libertadores between Boca Juniors and Fluminense at the Maracaná Stadium left many scenes that will remain recorded in history. Surely, Xeneize fans will keep in their memory an instance that could completely change the course of the defining minutes. John Kennedy scored a masterful goal to put the Brazilians 2-1 in extra time, but his excessive celebration meant a red card. Xeneize was down on the scoreboard, but with an extra player in an instance where the legs were becoming increasingly heavier. That advantage was short-lived: Frank Fabra had himself childishly expelled.

Flu’s goal came at 99 minutes on the clock and, in a match that took several minutes to resume between the eternal celebration, the VAR check of the play and the red, the Boca full-back slapped him eight minutes later after claim a penalty. Wilmar Roldán analyzed the play and chose to take the Colombian full-back off the field early.

One of the few from Xeneize who spoke after the defeat was goalkeeper Sergio Romero, symbol of the team in this competition. El Chiquito remembered the 2014 World Cup final that he lost with the Argentine team also in that stadium and pointed out about his teammate’s red card against Fluminense: “We know what football is, it has these things. Sometimes you have to be on the winning side and sometimes you don’t. The truth is that I think we made great merits, especially in the first half, to end with another result. Then, unfortunately, we couldn’t take advantage of the extra man we had in that short period, knowing that we had 15 minutes of the second half of overtime that we could perhaps do something else.”

When they questioned him about the red card, the 36-year-old goalkeeper tried to avoid the controversy although he made it clear that it was a break: “I think it would have been another game, obviously, another second half, but well it had to be that way. We arrived… That’s where they obviously closed in very well at the back and it was very difficult to enter. Now what we are gonna do?”.

And he stated: “Tomorrow we will analyze what was done from day one, what was done there in Venezuela, that day we started with Marianito Herrón as coach, with an interim position. After all the path that was taken to reach the final, we always have to take away the positive things, we always have to look at the things that were negative because we have to continue learning, we are a group of 30 players who have to continue learning that football “It doesn’t end in a game, but rather an entire calendar year.”

The one who referred to the issue was Nino himself, the 26-year-old defender who received the slap from Fabra. “The game usually has unpredictable aspects. We managed to score in extra time, John Kennedy was sent off… Thank God the guy slapped me in the face and he was sent off too. I celebrated it a lot,” said the Flu captain with a laugh, according to the Brazilian newspaper OGlobo. “We knew we had to be mentally strong to get through those moments in the best way possible,” he added.

2023-11-05 13:22:00
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