After Lionel Messi lit up the Club World Cup opener, Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium was awash in Argentine passion again as Boca Juniors fans turned it into a little Buenos Aires for their team’s 2-2 draw with Benfica on Monday.
A day after draping the shores of Miami Beach in blue and gold on the eve of their team’s debut, the Boca fans chanted their way into the arena and through the game, which put them in second place in Group C behind Bayern Munich after the German champions demolished Auckland City 10-0 on Sunday.
Both teams finished with 10 men after Benfica’s Andrea Bellotti and Boca’s Nicolas Figal picked up straight red cards in a heated contest that saw the Portuguese team cancel out a two-goal deficit.
Boca next face Bayern on Friday in Miami while Benfica will face Auckland City in Orlando, Florida.
After a scrappy opening 20 minutes, the stands trembled when Boca went ahead in the 21st as Lautaro Blanco’s low cross was met by Miguel Merentiel, triggering wild celebrations.
Six minutes later, the Argentine side doubled the tally with a Rodrigo Battaglia header, stunning Benfica, who had been dominating from the onset.
Nicolás Otamendi was then brought down in the box and Benfica earned a penalty following a VAR review and Angel Di María coolly sent the goalkeeper the wrong way to cut the goal deficit down to one at the stroke of halftime.
Former Manchester United star Ander Herrera, now with Boca and withdrawn after an early injury, was sent off at halftime for arguing the VAR call.
Benfica were down to 10 in the 70th after Bellotti was shown a straight red card for a high kick in the back of the head of Ayrton Costa. It was the first red card of the 31-year-old Belotti’s career.
The Portuguese side, however, levelled six minutes from time when Otamendi found the back of the net with a powerful header, with seven of his eight goals this season coming in such fashion.
The result kept the six-time Copa Libertadores champions’ hopes alive to advance into the knockout phase, which would be a boost for the tournament as South American fans are expected to bring the biggest amount of passion into the stadiums.
Information from Reuters was used in this recap.
