Origins and background The two clubs Boca and River Plate both have origins in
La Boca, the working class dockland area of Buenos Aires, with River being founded in 1901 and Boca in 1905. River, however, moved to the affluent district of
Núñez in the north of the city in 1925. Since then, Boca Juniors has been known as the club of Argentina's working class or the people's club, with many Boca fans coming from the local Italian immigrant community. Boca fans are actually known as "
Xeneizes" ("
Genoese"). Before their first official match, Boca and River had played two friendlies (1908 and 1912). River Plate's nickname was
Darseneros (the most popular
Millonarios came in 1931). The first official match of the rivalry, the
1913 Superclásico, was played on August 24, 1913 at
Racing Club Stadium, with River winning 2–1. in 1943 became legendary The Superclásico is particularly noted for the passion of the fans, with what the
BBC describe as "a sea of colourful flowing banners, screams and roars, chanting, dancing and never-ending fireworks". dribbling in a 1950 match Boca fans refer to River supporters as "
gallinas" ("chickens") claiming the lack of guts of River players. Despite the fact that their club traces back its roots to La Boca, River fans refer to their Boca rivals as "
los chanchitos" ("little pigs") because they claim their stadium, located in the less affluent La Boca area, smells most of the time, Another infamous slur, coined in the late 1990s over remarks of Boca's forward
Diego Latorre, is to brand Boca Juniors as "The Cabaret", due to the alleged aspiration of some players to steal the limelight. The rivalry between the two clubs can also affect players, particularly those who are transferred between the two clubs.
Cataldo Spitale was the first to make the change, when he left Boca to sign for River in 1933.
Oscar Ruggeri, who moved to River from Boca in 1985 said, "It's not easy I can tell you. One side looks on you as a traitor and the other doesn't really trust you. You need time to adapt and a lot of character to win people over." Some players have gone so far as to state that they would not play for the other club such as River's Uruguayan player
Enzo Francescoli while
Diego Maradona during his time playing for
Argentinos Juniors, refused to even consider a move to El Monumental, stating that his dream was to play for Boca. In 1992,
José Luis Villarreal won the league title with Boca, and left the following year to River. Although he was received very well by River fans, and won the 1993 and 1994 league titles there, Boca fans never forgave him, and he says he hasn't been to La Bombonera since then to avoid problems. In the course of the match, the two teams were unable to keep possession because the ball became repeatedly bogged down. The match restarted four days later, on March 25, and was played with two halves of 41 minutes.
Puerta 12 tragedy On June 23, 1968, in El Monumental, after a 0–0 match between the two teams, 71 fans were killed in a crush at gate 12, with 150 fans left injured. The disaster was the worst incident in the history of Argentine football and the majority of the dead were teenagers and young adults; the average age of the victims was 19. There are various claims as to what exactly happened that day. Some claim that the disaster happened after Boca Juniors fans threw burning River flags from the upper tiers of the stadium, causing a stampede of their own fans in the lower tier. Others claim that it happened after River fans arrived at the Boca section, causing the stampede of the visiting fans. Yet others claim that gate 12 was locked, or would not open at the time, and that the fans at the back did not hear the ones at the front telling them to stop coming in. William Kent, River's former president, claimed that the police were the culprits, as they began repressing Boca fans after they had thrown
urine at them from the stands. Some witnesses claim that the turnstiles to the exit were blocked by a huge iron pole. After three years of investigation, a government inquiry found no one guilty, much to the disappointment of the families of the victims. Since the tragedy, the gates at El Monumental have been identified by letters instead of numbers. At the end of the 1968 season, the 68 football clubs in the
Argentine Football Association collected 100,000
pesos for the families of the deceased.
River's 2011 relegation to 2018 Greater Final Since the turn of the century, the rivalry has intensified to different levels. A series of fierce meetings and violent events rekindled international attention to the derby. Boca eliminated River in the
2000 Copa Libertadores and
2004 Copa Libertadores, winning the title in 2000, 2001 and 2003, and reaching the finals in 2004. Moreover, in June 2011, River was relegated for the first time in its history. Since its promotion in 2012, River eliminated Boca in the
2014 Copa Sudamericana,
2015 Copa Libertadores,
2017 Supercopa Argentina,
2018 Copa Libertadores, and the
2019 Copa Libertadores, lifting the trophy on all of those occasions, except the 2019 Copa Libertadores. During the
2015 Copa Libertadores Round of 16, River Plate players were attacked at half time by a Boca fan that used pepper spray as the players were entering the dressing rooms. As a result, the game was suspended and CONMEBOL opened disciplinary proceedings on Boca. At the time of the attack, River was winning the series 1–0. As a result of the incident, Boca were disqualified from competition in the tournament and were faced with sanctions imposed by from CONMEBOL. River Plate, on the other hand, advanced to the quarterfinals and would later go on to win the Copa Libertadores. In the 2018 Copa Libertadores Finals, the bus carrying Boca's players to the
El Monumental was attacked by River fans who threw large objects after the police withdrew from the zone. The game was suspended and despite Boca's requests to have River disqualified, the game was moved to
Madrid at the
Santiago Bernabéu Stadium. After drawing 2–2 at
La Bombonera and losing its home field advantage, River famously won the game 3–1 after extra time (5–3 on aggregate). Through the series, Boca was always ahead until the extra time of the return leg. Given the rivalry and the stage, and the fact of having been played in Europe, the 2018 Copa Libertadores Finals gathered unusual attention outside South America. ==Statistics==