“I tell this 20 years later…”

He Superclassic between River y Boca It has a long record of episodes of violence throughout its history, some more serious than others, and many that remain in everyone’s memory. One of them was the one that was played on June 10, 2004 in the semifinal series of the Copa Libertadores which was first disputed in the candy box and then in the Monumental. The first leg was won by the team led by Carlos Bianchi 1-0 and the return went to Núñez’s team, who ended up losing on penalties.

But the first match had an unforgettable moment of climax a few minutes after the header goal of Rolando Schiaviwhen there was a hand in hand between Marcelo Gallardo y Raúl Cascini: the Doll attacked the current Boca leader and everything ended in scandal.

The referee of that match, Claudio Martinhe gave them both a red card, and Gallardo was so excited that when Roberto Abbondanzieri approached from the goal, he received a scratch from the Doll. It was in the middle of a tumult, when the goalkeeper seemed to be trying to separate and ended up being attacked by today’s coach, from behind.

To try to calm the waters a little, Martín asked Gabriel Brazenas to take the bloodied goalkeeper off the field: “I saw the scratch. At that moment I told Brazenas, the fourth referee, to take Abbondanzieri away because we were going to have to send him off too,” said the referee.

Recently, Abbondanzieri spoke about Gallardo’s aggression and still does not understand why the former soccer player reacted that way: “I never understood that, but I don’t hold a grudge against him…”, said Pato, and added: “It’s as if I “I would have been angry.”

Today, 20 years later, Brazenas recalled the episode and he told how difficult it was for him to live through that whole situation as a Boca fan, a peculiarity that he was encouraged to confess once he retired from refereeing.

“I was on that Boca field, in that temple, the day Abbondanzieri de Gallardo was scratched, old man. I was the fourth referee,” he recalled in the radio cycle Mundo Boca Radio.

“The blow passed through my side and they spat on me so much that I told Gallardo: ‘It’s the first time I’ve been spat on so much on the Boca field because of you.’ I tell this 20 years later…”, Brazenas continued saying.

“I had to take it up my sleeve, because on top of that they didn’t open it, and the Boca fans spat at me,” he emphasized, still incredulous about the episode that turned two decades old. “Do you understand how angry I was? I was taking him to Gallardo and they were spitting on me,” he said.

Brazenas retired from football in 2010, after the controversial meeting between Velez y Hurricane for the last date of the 2009 Clausura Tournament, a title that Fortín won after a controversial performance by the referee. Despite the fact that the entire environment pointed to him for that day, he affirms that his goodbye to refereeing was due to physical issues.