From the first ball the 50,000 people that crowded the Vélez stadium that Sunday, October 15, 1972 (43,044 general tickets were sold) to see the super classic between River and Boca for the first date of the National Championship that year, They had the feeling that they would witness an unusual match, destined to make history: River moved, Norberto Alonso received the ball and with the backhand of his magical left foot, he threw a round spout at Oscar Peracca, the Boca midfielder who ran to your brand.
What came after was much better: 9 minutes into the first half, River was winning 2-0. with goals from Ernesto Mastrángelo at the minute of play and from Oscar Mas at 9. There was a rare penalty for Boca (José “Perico” Pérez, the River goalkeeper, jumped with his right leg extended on a plank over Hugo Curioni, the Cordovan center forward de Boca, and the referee Luis Pestarino charged the foul) that “Perico” Pérez himself stopped Rubén Suñé. But Boca was not discouraged, quite the opposite: they kept attacking and turned the 2-0 score into 4-2. with goals from Curioni, Ramón Ponce from a free kick and two from Osvaldo Potente. The foundations of a great comeback seemed to be laid.
But River did not surrender either: He attacked furiously, deducted another goal from Mas 12 minutes into the second half and equalized at 17 through Carlos Morete. The 4-4 after two spectacular upsets seemed like enough excitement for one game alone. But as if the plot of the superclassic had been written on the fly by a hallucinated screenwriter, the end provided the last surprise of an odd afternoon: There was a free kick for River to one side of the Boca area, Jorge Dominichi executed it past the far post, Mastrángelo put the ball in the middle and Morete broke the goal with a furious right hand that lowered the curtain on hearts. Everyone applauded, those from River who won and those from Boca who lost. The best superclásico of all time and one of the most exciting matches in history had ended: River 5-Boca 4. A monument to the passion of football that turns 50 this Saturday.
It is worth recalling the protagonists of that meeting. River was directed by Juan Eulogio Urriolabeitia, a technician from La Plata who had played for the club in the 1950s, and formed with Perico Pérez, Zuccarini, Dominichi, Daulte and Giustozzi; Juan José López (Ghiso), Merlo and Alonso (Carlos López); Mastrangelo, Morete and More. Boca for its part lined up Ruben Sanchez; Suñé, Mouzo, Blanco and Marzolini, Peracca (Alberto Romero), Pachamé and Potente, Ponce, Curioni and Ferrero under the direction of José Varacka. They had already played twice so far in 1972 for the Metropolitan championship that another unforgettable team had won: that San Lorenzo led by Juan Carlos Lorenzo.
In the Monumental, Boca had beaten River 4-0 with two goals from Ponce and others from Curioni and in the Bombonera, they had equaled 2-2 (Curioni and Potente for Boca, Joaquín Martínez and Néstor Scotta for River), the afternoon in the one in which the legendary Antonio Roma defended the xeneize arch for the last time. On the first date of the National that had been divided into two zones of thirteen teams each, they faced each other again for the interzonal classic. And that’s where the planets collided. Never before and never after were nine goals scored in the biggest match in Argentine football.
Years later and already retired from activity, Carlos Morete remembered his two goals like this: “I was about ten meters from the big area, they let me turn, I threw it long at Mouzo and went straight to the area. When Rubén came out Sánchez, I hit him with a left cross and he stuck down. The truth is that it was a nice goal”, he said about the first one, the equalizer for River. The one with the victory recalled it like this: “We had a free kick in our favor on the right that Dominichi executed past the far post where Mastrángelo appeared, who touched it with the instep inwards and I found myself alone with the ball a meter away the arc. I put a hoot that inflated the net and it was delirium. I scored the goal and the game ended there. It was such an emotional situation that it is very difficult for it to be repeated,” he said. Morete, River’s third historical scorer in the superclásicos against Boca (he scored nine between 1970 and 1975).
After such a match, River and Boca met again in 1972 and at the Vélez stadium, but now for a semifinal: the winner defined the Nacional with San Lorenzo. River won 3 to 2 (Mastrángelo, Mouzo against and Morete for River, Rogel and Curioni for Boca) and went to the final where they lost 1-0 in extra time. But that superclassic will be indelible. There were more important ones, such as the finals of the 1976 Nacional on the Racing field and the 2018 Copa Libertadores in Madrid. But none was like this because none had all the emotions together. River won, Boca won and River won. Everything happened in just ninety minutes that continue to electrify as on that Sunday fifty years ago.
