The meeting between River Plate and Flamengo is a one-off affair for the first time in the competition’s history. It has had a troubled birth
The decision to play this year’s Copa Libertadores final, the first ever one-legged decider in the competition’s history, in Santiago appeared logical. The city’s Estadio Nacional was newly renovated and Chile hadn’t had a finalist since 1993, so a comfortable and neutral ground for the final was all but assured. And, perhaps more importantly, Chile was still the mark of dependability in a perennially unstable region.
After all, Chileans are known as the Germans of Latin America – the stereotype portrays them as stoical and organised – and economically the country saw a drop in its poverty rate from 30% to 6.4% in just 17 years. Conmebol was desperate to right last year’s debacle that forced the final from
Argentina to Madrid, and Santiago looked like the perfect venue for the association to showcase its premier product to the global market.