Attending the derby between Independiente and River Plate (Buenos Aires)

In 2017, I had the chance to attend a match of San Lorenzo and another of River Plate.

Back in Buenos Aires in 2024, I got to discover the stadiums of Racing and Boca Juniors.

You might know that five teams are considered los cinco grandes del fútbol argentino. All located in Buenos Aires.

All I was missing was Independiente to complete the collection. Independiente is the team with the most Copa Libertadores titles (South America’s “Champions League”), even though the last one dates back to 1984. The team is now coached by Carlos Tevez, a former Boca Juniors player who delighted fans in Europe at Manchester City, Manchester United, and Juventus Turin.

And conveniently, the day before our departure for Chile, there’s a classic between Independiente and River Plate: big atmosphere in store!

For the third time, I’m using the agency LandingPadBA.

The organization is always top-notch: a meet-up at a pizzeria before the match, then a minibus transfer to the stadium Libertadores de América, a venue that can hold 50,000 people.

Oddly enough, Independiente’s stadium is just two streets away from Racing’s rival grounds!

The group goes with our guide Mathias, while, for reasons I don’t quite understand, I have a single seat in a different stand. I’m not sure why, but since I’ve been here before, maybe the agency thinks I can handle it on my own. And that’s fine.

But our second guide, Nacho (a big Independiente fan), who’s attending the match from his season ticket seat, tells me he’ll get in touch if there’s a spot next to him.

And that’s exactly what happens 5 minutes later—I join him and find myself surrounded by all his friends in the stand! Plus, since Nacho speaks good French, he explained tons of things to me. What a fantastic experience!

While River Plate were favored, it was Independiente dominating the match, albeit without much result. On a counterattack, River Plate opened the scoring before Independiente equalized.

The match could have swung in favor of the home side without two controversial refereeing decisions, but the score stayed as it was: 1–1.