Junior de Barranquilla’s 3-3 draw with Mexican side Juagares de Chiapas was not enough to see them qualify for the quarter finals of the Copa Libertadores, but was sufficient to cause riots outside the stadium after the game.
Junior came into the Thursday evening match as favorites having secured a respectable 1-1 draw in the away leg in Mexico, but a 3-3 tie at home in Barranquilla saw them eliminated on away goals with an aggregate score of 4-4, Caracol Radio reported.
Furious fans attacked several commercial stores by throwing stones, shattering the windows of the unfortunate local shops as well as causing damage to the Transmetro system.
Riot police were called into action to prevent more damage, while they also had to enact a large security cordon to protect the Junior players from attacks.
If one cannot condone the post-match violence, one can certainly empathize with the frustration that the fans must have felt having seen their team lead the match on three different occasions only to see them pegged back every time.
Junior opened the scoring through Juan David Valencia before Jackson Martinez, a Colombian from Choco, levelled for the Mexicans before half-time. A John Viafara penalty put Junior back on course to qualify on 51 minutes, only for Martinez to once again prove the thorn in their side by equalizing for 2-2.
Carlos Bacca made it 3-2 to Junior with 20 minutes remaining thanks to some atrocious goalkeeping, which looked to have decided the match until Edgar Andrade popped up in the dying minutes with an impressive long range goal to equalize and thereby send his team through to the quarter finals.
For the ensuing post-match violence, the fans had plenty of inspiration on the pitch itself as first the Jaguares goalkeeper attempted to attack his own coach after being substituted, following his goalkeeping nightmare, before a brawl between both sets of players ended in a sending off for both sides.
Watch the videos below for the match highlights and the on-pitch brawls:
