River Plate vs. Boca Juniors: Final score 1-1, wild and wet Super Clásico ends square

An exceptionally sloppy edition of the Super Clásico ended in a draw on Sunday, which probably won’t be particularly frustrating to Boca Juniors or River Plate. While neither will be pleased with the referee, they’ll be relieved to walk away from the Monumental with a 1-1 draw.

Despite the severely waterlogged state of the pitch, the match was allowed to start. And because it rained heavily for the entirety of the match, it only got worse as the game progressed. It completely affected play, with tactics and skill basically going out the window from the beginning of the match.

Boca found the breakthrough in the 22nd minute, thanks to an excellent free kick by Federico Carrizo. His in-swinging delivery from the right flank dipped down perfectly and Lisandro Magallan slid to get on the end of the ball and poke a perfect finish into the back of the net.

The match turned in controversial fashion in the 40th minute when the referee judged Boca midfielder Fernando Gago to have blocked a shot with his hand, denying a clear goal-scoring opportunity. In reality, though he had his arm up, Gago had blocked the ball with his head. The referee saw it differently, sent Gago off, and was thoroughly abused by the remaining Boca players.

Rodrigo Mora stepped up to the spot, but couldn’t convert for River. He skied his penalty over the bar, keeping the visitors in front. River thought they had the equalizer five minutes later as well, when Carlos Sanchez put the ball into the back of the net, but he was flagged for offside.

The state of the pitch did not improve during the halftime break. That, combined with Boca’s complete disincentive to attack, led to a sloppy and poor period of play that featured very few chances for both teams. But River did eventually find their breakthrough, on a piece of direct play.

Just one minute after entering the game as a substitute, German Pezzella became River’s hero. He won a long chipped pass from Ramiro Funes Mori and hit a header on target, forcing a save from Agustin Orion. But due to the conditions, Orion couldn’t hang on, and Pezzella pounced to poke the rebound into the back of the net.

However, just as soon as Funes Mori had helped River to equalize, he gave Boca a way back into the game. He put in a nasty lunging tackle on Marcelo Meli in the 84th minute, was shown a red card, and the game was even until the end as a result.

Boca couldn’t turn that gift into a goal, though, and the match finished a draw. There were some sloppy and scary moments at the end, but the defenses were able to hold out, and both sides are probably happy they avoided a loss in a game that was essentially a lottery.

River Plate: Barovero, Mercado, Funes Mori (red 84’), Vangioni (Boye 46’), Maidana, Ponzio, Rojas, Sanchez (Solari 76’), Pisculichi (Pezzella 76’), Mora, Gutierrez

Goals: Pezzella (78’)

Boca Juniors: Orion, Marin, Colazo (Perez 80’), Magallan, Echeverria, Gago (red 41’), Meli, Erbes, Carrizo (Insua 46’), Chavez, Calleri (Fuenzalida 74’)

Goals: Magallan (22’)