Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1057934
29 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 2 DECEMBER 2018 COPA LIBERTADORES SPORTS FA TROPHY PHOTOGRAPHY BY DOMINIC BORG Balzan defeat Qrendi 5-1 River Plate refuse to play final second leg of Copa Libertadores at Bernabeu RIVER Plate have refused to play the second leg of the Copa Libertadores final against Boca Juniors at Real Madrid's Santiago Bernabeu. In a statement yesterday, the Argentinian club contested the idea they were responsible for the violent scenes which took place around their El Monumental Stadium last Saturday. They said it is "incomprehensible" Argen- tina's 'Superclasico' between the Buenos Aires rivals cannot take place domestically in a country which hosted the G20 summit this week. River also argue moving the game to Spain's capital is "harmful" to the more than 66,000 fans who attempted to attend the game on two occasions and are now being "unjustifi- ably" denied the opportunity due to travel costs. The second leg was originally postponed to the Sunday after the visiting Boca Juniors players were injured following an attack on their team bus. However, South America's governing body CONMEBOL delayed the game further fol- lowing a request from Boca. The decision was then taken to rearrange the game to take place at the Santiago Berna- beu on December 9. In the second match at the Centenary Stadium, Balzan de- feated First Division side Qren- di 5-1 and will now face Gudja United or Xewkija Tigers in the fourth round. Carlos Eduardo de Fiori Mendes opened the score on the 10th minute and seven min- utes later, Andrija Majdevac doubled the score. Ciro Quar- anta reduced the gap on the 24th minute but on the half- hour, Ricardo Calixto Correa made it 3-1. Two minutes from half-time, Majdevac scored the fourth goal for Balzan. Andrija Majde- vac added another on the 73rd minute Balzan line-up: Sean Mint- off, Dale Camilleri, Lydon Mi- callef (Yudai Miyamoto), Steven Bezzina (Gary Camilleri), Harry Ascroft, Michael Johnson, Ivan Bozovic, Carlos Eduardo de Fio- ri Mendes, Ricardo Calixto Cor- rea Duarte, Andrija Majdevac, Milos Lepovic (Sean Cipriott). Qrendi line-up: Jeffrey Far- rugia, Daryl Micallef, Mark Far- rugia (Zackary Bowman), Bjorn Bondin, Marlon Reid (Ryan Dalli), Christian Caruana (Ken- neth Abela), Neil Falzon, Josuel Spiteri, Joao Pedro da Silva Var- gas, Ciro Quaranta, Jonatan Sil- veira da Silva. Referee: Matthew Degabriele A huge crowd gathered at the Monumental Stadium ahead of the second leg of the Copa Libertadores final