The 1969 Intercontinental Cup was a

two-legged In sports (particularly association football), a two-legged tie is a contest between two teams which comprises two matches or "legs", with each team as the home team in one leg. The winning team is usually determined by aggregate score, the sum o ...

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

match contested between

1968–69 European Cup The 1968–69 season of the European Cup football club tournament was won by Milan, who beat Ajax 4–1 in the final, giving Milan its first European Cup title since 1963, and its second overall. A number of Eastern Bloc clubs withdrew from the f ...

champions

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

and 1969 Copa Libertadores winners

Estudiantes de La Plata Club Estudiantes de La Plata ( lit. "Students from La Plata"), simply referred to as Estudiantes de La Plata , is an Argentine professional sports club based in La Plata. The club's football team currently competes in the Primera División, wh ...

. It was the 10th edition of the competition. The first leg was played at the

San Siro Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, commonly known as San Siro, is a football stadium in the San Siro district of Milan, Italy, which is the home of A.C. Milan and Inter Milan. It has a seating capacity of 80,018, making it one of the largest stadiums in ...

, on 8 October 1969. Milan won the home game 3–0. The return leg was held two weeks later, on 22 October, at

La Bombonera The Alberto José Armando Stadium is a football stadium located in La Boca, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Widely known as La Bombonera (; en, The chocolate box) due to its shape, with a "flat" stand on one side of the pitch and three steep stands rou ...

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

. Despite suffering a 2–1 defeat, Milan won the title on aggregate.

Violence on pitch

Amongst other things, the tie became infamous for the violent on-pitch conduct and dirty tactics employed by Estudiantes' players in the second leg of the fixture. Estudiantes' players used violence from the beginning, with Alberto Poletti and Ramón Aguirre Suárez throwing balls to a group of Milan players that were practising on the field prior to the match. With the game already in progress, Eduardo Manera pushed around goalkeeper Fabio Cudicini, then he bit Saul Malatrasi. Aguirre Suárez (one of the most violent players) injured Néstor Combin and Pierino Prati, although he would not be expelled until another violent action against Gianni Rivera. After a match which saw two Italian players badly assaulted, events took a turn for the surreal when stretcher-bound

striker

Néstor Combin Néstor Combin (born 29 December 1939) is a former professional footballer who played as a striker. Born in Argentina, he spent most of his professional career in France, most notably with Lyon, and represented the France national team at int ...

was arrested by Argentine police for

draft dodging Draft evasion is any successful attempt to elude a government-imposed obligation to serve in the military forces of one's nation. Sometimes draft evasion involves refusing to comply with the military draft laws of one's nation. Illegal draft ev ...

(Combin had been born in

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

but had represented

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

at international level, having moved to

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

for his professional career). The match had immediate political ramifications, partly due to Argentina's bid for the World Cup in

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...

. Many of the team's players were arrested and goalkeeper Alberto Poletti, who had punched Milan's "golden boy"

playmaker In association football, a playmaker is a player who controls the flow of the team's play, and is often involved in offensively and defensively playing passing moves which lead to goals, through their vision, technique, ball control, creativit ...

Gianni Rivera Giovanni "Gianni" Rivera (; born 18 August 1943) is an Italian politician and former footballer who played as a midfielder. During his career as a footballer he was mostly utilised as an attacking midfielder. Dubbed Italy's "Golden Boy" by the ...

, kicked Combin and had clashed with supporters after the match, was handed a life ban. Ramon Suárez, who had broken the nose of Combin, was banned from international fixtures for five years. The match is also partly to blame for a subsequent boycott of the tournament by European teams.

First leg

Match details

Second leg

Match details

References

External links

Match details and lineups
at RSSSF.com

at UEFA.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Intercontinental Cup,1969 i i i i

1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 **Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...

i Estudiantes de La Plata matches Football in Buenos Aires International club association football competitions hosted by Italy International club association football competitions hosted by Argentina October 1969 sports events in Europe Sports competitions in Buenos Aires Sports competitions in Milan

1969 Intercontinental Cup The 1969 Intercontinental Cup (football), Intercontinental Cup was a Two-legged tie, two-legged association football match contested between 1969 European Cup Final, 1968–69 European Cup champions A.C. Milan, Milan and 1969 Copa Libertadores winn ...

Brawls in team sports October 1969 sports events in South America

Violence on pitch

First leg

Match details

Second leg

Match details

See also

References

External links