River Plate refuse to play 2nd leg of Copa Libertadores final in Madrid

River Plate are refusing to contest the second leg of their Copa Libertadores final with Boca Juniors in Madrid.

CONMEBOL eventually made the decision to move the decider to the Spanish capital after Boca's bus was attacked prior to the match's scheduled kickoff last Saturday, injuring players and resulting in cancellations of the match on two consecutive days.

Boca are arguing they should be awarded the win over their Buenos Aires rivals due to the fan unrest closeby to River's Estadio Monumental. River, however, are instead bemoaning a loss of home advantage and indicating blame over the unconcluded showpiece should rest primarily with the city's authorities.

"It's incomprehensible that the most important match in Argentine football can't happen without issues in this very country, days after it hosted the G20 summit," the statement reads, with translation from Sports Illustrated's Luis Miguel Echegaray. "Argentine football, along with the federation, can't allow that a handful of violent citizens halt the Superclasico's development."

River have pledged support for their fans. They state that some of the 66,000 ticket holders waited as long as eight hours in the Monumental before CONMEBOL decided last Saturday's match would be postponed until the following day. Then, on Sunday, River had opened the doors for supporters before CONMEBOL reached the same conclusion, albeit with no date or venue determined for the second leg.

CONMEBOL revealed their decision to play the Superclasico at Real Madrid's Santiago Bernabeu on Thursday. The governing body also fined River Plate $400,000 for the violence last weekend and issued a punishment of two behind-closed-door CONMEBOL-level matches starting in 2019.