Fans of Universidad de Chile cheer for their team ahead of the Copa Sudamericana round of 16 second leg football match against Argentina's Independiente. Photo / Alejandro Pagni, AFP
Fans of Universidad de Chile cheer for their team ahead of the Copa Sudamericana round of 16 second leg football match against Argentina's Independiente. Photo / Alejandro Pagni, AFP
Argentine and Chilean football fans have traded blame after a pitched battle in a Buenos Aires stadium involving knives, sticks and stun grenades, which left 19 people injured, three seriously.
More than 100 people were arrested over some of the worst sporting violence South America has seen in years.
ChileanPresident Gabriel Boric described Wednesday’s incidents as an “unacceptable lynching” of his compatriots and called for justice.
The violence flared at halftime in a Copa Sudamericana round of 16 game between Argentina’s Independiente and Universidad de Chile.
Fans of Independiente kick a gate during the interruption of the Copa Sudamericana match between Argentina's Independiente and Chile's Universidad de Chile. Photo / Alejandro Pagni, AFP
The Chilean Government said 19 of its citizens had been hospitalised, including one with stab wounds.
Boric dispatched his Interior Minister to Buenos Aires to accompany the injured and follow the investigation.
Argentine media reported that three people sustained serious head injuries, including a Universidad fan who jumped from the upper tier of the stands to escape his attackers, but miraculously survived.
Throwing toilets
Nestor Grindetti, president of Independiente, accused the Chilean fans of ripping toilets out of the bathrooms and tossing them into the stands.
Facundo Manent, a 29-year-old Independiente fan, told AFP that the Chilean fans “were throwing everything you can imagine: rocks, seats, urine, poop”.
Independiente fans display stolen clothing and brandish sticks in the stands where Universidad de Chile fans were sitting. Photo / Alejandro Pagni, AFP
He and several fans and players from either side accused Buenos Aires police of being slow to intervene.
Fifa President Gianni Infantino described the violence a “barbaric” and called for “example-setting sanctions”.
Conmebol, South America’s football governing body, vowed to act with “the utmost firmness” against those responsible.
The clubs face punishments ranging from fines to disqualification.
Friends and relatives of arrested fans waited outside a police station near the stadium for news.
A bleeding fan of Universidad de Chile after being hit by fans of Independiente. Photo / Alejandro Pagni, AFP
Victor Cepeda, who travelled to the game from Chile’s capital Santiago with two friends who were arrested, accused Independiente of failing to ensure security.
“They don’t know how to organise a match of this size. Everyone knows that things get thrown around,” he told AFP.
‘Miracle no one is dead’
The match was 1-1 when it was suspended in the 48th minute, before being called off.
Players and match officials stood on the pitch with their hands on their heads as the violence unfurled.
Universidad de Chile president Michael Clark said it was a “miracle no one is dead”.
Players from both sides appealed for action to be taken.
Friends and relatives of the detained fans of Universidad de Chile wait for information outside at a police station in Avellaneda, Buenos Aires province. Photo / Luis Robayo, AFP
“This level of violence cannot be tolerated,” Chilean international Felipe Loyola, who plays for Independiente, wrote on social media.
The Chilean National Professional Football Association (ANFP) criticised Independiente for what it called “passivity” in the face of the violence.
Independiente rejected the accusations, saying it had “fully complied with current regulations”.
Buenos Aires provincial security minister Javier Alonso accused Conmebol of taking too long to suspend the match “when it was clear that there was a very hostile attitude”.
South American football is no stranger to fan violence, which has claimed hundreds of lives across the continent in the past 20 years.
Two fans died in clashes with police outside a stadium in Santiago in April before a Copa Libertadores match between Chilean side Colo Colo and Brazilian club Fortaleza.
