“Great trilogies are few and far between but when bitter rivals River Plate and Boca Juniors were pitted against each other in the Copa Libertadores round of 16, just days after their scheduled league clash, hopes were predictably raised for a Superclasico triple header of cinematic proportions. As is often the case, it proved to be a disappointment and was ultimately overshadowed by violence. While the brutality on show may have not been out of place in The Godfather, that’s where any comparisons with Francis Ford Coppola’s masterpieces end.” Outside of the Boot (Video)

Continued South American soccer violence falls on authorities, clubs
“The aphorism ‘let the punishment fit the crime’ is unlikely to be heard much in South American soccer’s corridors of power. Whether it is the week-in, week-out thuggery of Brazil’s torcidas organizadas and Argentina’s barras bravas or the far too frequent tragedies served up in the Copa Libertadores–which in recent years have included the death of 14-year-old Bolivian fan Kevin Espada, struck by a flare fired by Corinthians fans in Oruro in 2013, and last week’s now notorious PepperGate incident at La Bombonera in Buenos Aires–perhaps the only thing more striking than the violence that scars the game across the continent is the inability of the authorities to do anything about the problem.” SI (Video)