The 1969 Intercontinental Cup was a two-legged

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 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 The 1969 Copa Libertadores de América was a football competition contested between the top clubs of the CONMEBOL The South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL, , or CSF; es, Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol; pt, Confederação ...

winners Estudiantes de La Plata. 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 i ...

, 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 ro ...

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 was arrested by Argentine police for draft dodging (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 regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

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 subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

for his professional career). The match had immediate political ramifications, partly due to Argentina's bid for the World Cup in 1978. Many of the team's players were arrested and goalkeeper Alberto Poletti, who had punched Milan's "golden boy" playmaker Gianni Rivera, 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 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 1969 Intercontinental Cup 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