While the last rays of the sun were coming through my window on Sunday evening, a friend from Buenos Aires was posting a new picture on Facebook in his profile. The picture showed a wall poster in the background, glued on the wall of a public street with the logo of Club Atletico Boca Juniors, and under lettering that said: Champions of the Decade.
Then, it added: CABJ is the winningest team of world football of the last 10 years: 16 titles. And in smaller fonts, was a list of teams and their titles: AC Milan 14; Barcelona, Manchester United and Real Madrid, 11; and Inter Milan, 10.
This Tuesday in the Monumental Stadium of Buenos Aires the clasico of clasicos number 333 will be played. There's no match in the world that generates a show so emotional in the stands, in the streets, in the country as a Boca-River does. The Superclasico is one of those games every football fan should witness in their life. The UK daily The Sun defines it as the most intense sporting experience in the world and World Soccer Maganize describes it as insuperable by no other match in the world, for its passion and intensity.
Boca Juniors, half of Argentina plus one, and River Plate, the team with the second most fans. The blue and gold versus the red stripe, the bosteros versus las gallinas, the xeneixes and the millonarios.
This derby of derbies is a unique show and un-recreatable, further more than the low performances displayed by both in current days. The first registered match was in 1908, 2 to 1 to Boca. More than a century later Boca is still ahead in the wins column.
Boca Juniors is the team with the most international cups: it has 18, same as with AC Milan. Follow by Independiente of Avellaneda and Real Madrid with 15, and Barcelona with 14. Of course there's different international records but this is taking account of officially recognized ones only.
In Argenitna, in that country, the game is started to be played days before the match kicks off and it continues on days after the results are in. That's why, its almost impossible to put into words what the passion of football, in its maximum expression, transmits. The giant banner that displays in Boca's Bombonera's stadium reads: Because we are not the only ones, we decided to be the best. In football frenzy, that could be arguably true.
So, there's nothing left to do than to watch at 5:00 P.M. Eastern the 333rd derby of this timeless classic spectacle.