Boca and Racing clash for the Argentine Super Cup in the United Arab Emirates and the old fires are rekindled in the desert

It doesn't matter how far the game is played.

Nor what are the customs, the culture of the place or the setting (an official match between two Argentine teams had never been played 14,000 kilometers away).

Nor that here they have received the two establishments as stars.

The customs of South American football and, fundamentally, of Argentine football are maintained.

, the fourth most important city in the United Arab Emirates and an appendage of the crowded Abu Dhabi.

.

Although they left from the same airport, they flew on the same plane and Dario Benedetto tried to qualify the pike that they drag from that final by saying that they are "professionals" and "there is a certain respect", in this place in the United Arab Emirates

during organized pre-match recreational activities.

Each campus at a different time went to visit the

, considered a UNESCO site and home for a hundred years of the Al Nahyan family that opened to the public in 2015, and the

where 147 thousand date palms and more than 100 different varieties of vegetation that make you forget that you are in a desert.

They were not expected to

, but it is clear that they drag what happened in San Luis.

Because while it is true that what happens on the pitch remains there, it is also true that on the pitch is where one takes revenge.

And it is in this very particular setting where they meet again.

Before the game, what the Boca and Racing teams -

- did together was the press conference this Thursday.

On one side was

;

on the other,

.

"It is important to represent Argentine soccer in this city, especially after the National Team won the World Cup a month ago

," remarked the 36-year-old defender, referring to the International Super Cup, a product that Claudio Tapia managed to export in this sports reopening. from the Arab world to the West and that

.

Racing's visit to the Al Ain oasis.

Press Photo Racing Club

In addition to the consecration of the National Team, what is still fresh is the memory of what happened at the La Pedrera Stadium, in Villa Mercedes, where Racing won a trophy after Darío Benedetto was sent off for his gesture towards referee Facundo Tello. and left Boca with six players, a situation that made it impossible to continue the game.

For this new final, the AFA made the decision to

and the other nine who saw the red on that afternoon of November 6 in San Luis could be in Al Ain

, as well as Guillermo Pol Fernández, who owes a game suspension for accumulation of yellow cards.

More than two months after that duel, Boca and Racing will meet again at the

in Al Ain, the field they recognized this Thursday and in which Hugo Ibarra and Fernando Gago gave no clues about the teams they will put on the field. Friday at 7:30 p.m. here, 12:30 p.m. in Argentina.

Benedetto, expelled in San Luis, is available due to the decision of the AFA to forgive the sanctions of the last clash between Boca and Racing.

Press Photo Boca Juniors

Boca has three goalkeepers available - with Javi García ahead of Chiquito Romero and Agustín Rossi - and they all trained, so it is

.

Beyond that unknown, the rest of the team that Ibarra stopped in the last practice was Advíncula, Roncaglia, Sandez, Fabra, Pol, Varela, Ramírez, Villa, Benedetto and Briasco.

Racing also did the recognition of the stadium and a soccer practice of which only 15 minutes could be seen.

and did not give details of what the formation will be like, something that will be kept until the last minute.

It will be communicated to the players before lunch and it will only be known when the team leaves for the stadium.

Al Ain, United Arab Emirates.

Special delivery.

look too

Darío Benedetto told how the flight to Abu Dhabi was with the Racing footballers: "We are professionals"

Boca vs Racing: after walking around Al Ain, they begin to define the teams for the International Super Cup