Red-card bonanza sees 10 players sent off in Argentine cup final

With Boca Juniors down to just six players on the field, the match reached an early end.

Ten red cards were dished out in Argentina’s Champions Trophy final after Racing Club midfielder Carlos Alcaraz sparked a melee with his match-winning goal celebration in front of the Boca Juniors fans.

Tempers can flare in the heated tension of a football game, but it remains unusual to see more than one red card in a game.

Those who like to see the game finish with fewer than 22 players were in for a treat on Sunday.

Racing Club beat this year’s Argentine league and domestic cup champions Boca Juniors 2-1 in extra time with midfielder Alcaraz scoring the winning goal for Racing in the 117th minute.

But the team’s extended goal celebrations in front of opposition fans sparked a fight. Alcarez was dragged by an ear before a melee ensued.

The trouble started when Carlos ‘Charly’ Alcaraz scored a winner for Racing Club in the last minute of extra time and celebrated in front of the Boca Juniors fans completely unfazed by the hundreds of bottles thrown in his direction.pic.twitter.com/LWRdujolW9

— Sam Street (@samstreetwrites) November 7, 2022

Alcaraz was sent off along with five Boca players, including Dario Benedetto, who was spotted by VAR making a gesture suggesting the officials had been paid off, and Carlos Zambrano, who was on the bench.

Jonathan Galvan, an unused Racing substitute, was also shown red.

Boca’s Sebastian Villa and Racing’s Johan Carbonero had already been dismissed in the 95th minute after an argument broke out between the two while Alan Varela of Boca Juniors was shown a second yellow just five minutes later.

In total, seven red cards were shown to Boca Juniors players and three to Racing Club players by Facundo Tello, a 40-year-old referee who will be among match officials at the World Cup in Qatar this month.

With Boca down to just six players on the field, the match ended early.

The record for red cards at a World Cup match is four, during Portugal’s tempestuous 2006 clash with the Netherlands.

But even Boca Juniors can’t compete with Buenos Aires fifth-tier rivals Claypole and Victoriano Arenas, whose 2011 match saw a staggering 36 red cards issued after the game in the changing rooms following a huge on-pitch bust-up.