All the numbers, after the River-Boca scandal: how the story went and who had the most expulsions in the 259 Superclásicos

River triumph against Boca about the time in the renovated monumental stadium had everything and it will be hard to forget. Not because of the good game, which was conspicuous by his absence, but from a statistical point of view, because there was a new penalty, sent off like never before and the Slumdog Millionaire managed to serve a match in history and, in addition, the contribution of numbers that make it possible to explain the participation of both teams.

River, after the 1-0 victory from a penalty by Miguel Borja, managed to discount Boca’s lead in overall history to 6 games. Now, out of a total of 259 official matches, the Xeneize is up 91-85, plus 83 draws. Now, counting only the First Division tournament, the distance is 7 games. Out of 214 classics, Boca have 78 wins against River’s 71 and 65 draws.

In the story where Núñez’s club does not run from behind, it is the one that only involves Monumental in all its versions since 1938, horseshoe shape, closed after the construction of the Sívori grandstand after the sale of the Cabezón to Italy in 1957, the makeover for the 1978 World Cup and the more recent one. In historical context, they have played 106 games, River have won 42, drawn 35 and lost 29. They are ahead by 13 games.

The embarrassment in the end will also be remembered for the number of players sent off, which has never happened before in a Superclásico. There were six of them, three from each team, four on the field at the time and two more substitutes. On River’s side, Agustín Palavecino, Ezequiel Centurión and Elías Gómez; del Boca, Ezequiel Fernández, Miguel Merentiel and Nahuel Valentini. With 15 cards in total, 6 red and 9 yellow, Sunday’s duel surpassed the 2010 Apertura Superclásico in which 12 yellow cards and one red card were handed out.

The number of dismissals has risen to 153 in 259 games, with a strong game: 77 for River and 76 for Boca (plus one player informed in 2004, as we shall see). After 41 years, the record has changed. In the 1982 Metropolitano classic, played on December 22, there were 4 reds and it was the highest number so far. River won 2-0 at La Bombonera and referee Carlos Espósito sent Oscar Ruggeri, local side Ricardo Gareca, Emilio Commisso and Reinaldo Merlo into sight.

Many classics with three expelled, such as the Clausura 2004, played on May 16 at the Bombonera: José Calvo, Carlos Tevez and Eduardo Tuzzio. At the end of the game he insulted the referee Sergio Pezzotta, who reported the incident to the disciplinary court. The toughest penalty was for the Boquense winger, four appointments for “officiating offence”, while the other three barely received a suspension date.

In terms of penalties, Slumdog Millionaire continues to benefit the most, now with 46 against 37. River had already won 1-0 once with a penalty, like this Sunday’s one from Colombian Miguel Borja. It was the first leg of the 2015 Libertadores round of 16, with a goal from Uruguayan Carlos Sánchez.

In addition to the historical statistical data, there is a monitoring of the match, which the Lega Calcio Professionisti has the task of disseminating at the end of each date. And in this case they made it special for the Superclásico: for example, River shot 16 (5 on goal) against Boca’s 5 (2 on goal), which explains the greater offensive vocation of Martín Demichelis’ team. He also had more passes corrected (390 to 245), fewer clearances (9 to 15), and fewer fouls (17 to 22).

Ball possession is also higher: 60% against 40%. The greatest moment of dominance occurred in the last 15 minutes of the first half, with 78% against 22, while Boca only had a little more control in the first quarter of the second phase, with 54% against 46% . The locals had more ball in their rivals’ field (60% against 40%), while the visit circulated the ball much more in their own field than in River’s (58% against 42%). On the scoreboard, of course, the only difference was a goal. Enough to add three points and extend the difference between the tournament to 19.