Players attack a referee in Córdoba

Things got out of hand in this regional league game in Córdoba between Juventud Cátolica de Río Segundo and Sportivo Laguna Larga. The incident kicked off when the Juventud players took exception to a decision by referee Hugo Vega and one of them hit the official. When the linesmen and other officials tried to intervene they also came under attack. Vega received a serious head injury and was taken to hospital recovering consciousness in the ambulance. He later said that it was the first time he had felt fear in his ten years as a football referee. The police are studying the incident to consider whether charges can be brought against any of the players.

For more crazy South American football check out the rest of the Cosas locas series.

Andoni Goikoetxea vs Diego Maradona, 1983

On 24 September 1983 Athletic Bilbao defender Andoni Goikoetxea committed one of the most notorious fouls in football severely damaging the ankle of Barcelona player Diego Maradona with a lunging studs up challenge.

For his part in the incident Goikoetxea earned himself the nickname "the butcher of Bilbao".

Maradona recovered from his ankle ligament injuries but his Barcelona career was soon over after he demanded to be released in 1984. He went on to win the 1986 World Cup with Argentina and became one of the most controversial and iconic figures in world football.

For more crazy South American football check out the rest of the Cosas locas series.

Luis Moreno owl abuse

On 27 February 2011 Junior faced Deportivo Pereira in the Colombia Primara A. The home team managed to earn a 2-1 win in an entertaining game to get their title challenge back on track . The winning goal was a spectacular individual effort from Luis Páez but it was overshadowed by this moment of animal cruelty.

The incident started when an attempted clearance from the Pereira full back hit the Junior club mascot. Questions have to be asked as to why the owl had been allowed to wander about on the pitch in the middle of the game but the real shocker came a few seconds later when Pereira's Panamanian defender Luis Moreno decided to get the clearly injured animal off the pitch by booting it into touch.

The owl survived with only a minor fracture to it's right leg. The home crowd then shouted abuse at Moreno for the rest of the game and chanted "murderer" at him. After the game Moreno had to be escorted off the field by police and then said that he was sorry and that he only flicked it up with his foot to see if it could fly. 

If the authorities bow to public opinion on the matter then Moreno looks set to suffer some severe punishment, whether from the football authorities or through criminal charges for animal cruelty.

Update:

According to press reports the owl died of shock two days later, Moreno is getting death threats and faces up to three months in jail.

Meta-reaction

For more crazy South American football check out the rest of the Cosas locas series.

Emanuel Gigliotti vs Maxi Moralez

Saturday 19 February 2011 will be a date to remember for Argentine minnows All Boys who recorded a famous 1-2 away win against giant neighbours Vélez Sársfield. Sebastián Grazzini scored both of All Boys goals and there were brilliant performances from several other All Boys players like the gigantic forward Cristián Fabianni. Not only did All Boys beat Vélez, they finished the game with only nine players after Carlos Soto and Emanuel Gigliotti were sent off late in the game. Gigliotti's challenge on Maxi Moralez earned him a deserved straight red card.

For more crazy South American football check out the rest of the Cosas locas series.

Cosas locas: Nicolás Spolli vs Paulo Ferrari

When Rosario rivals Newell's Old Boys and Rosario Central met in the preliminary round of the 2005 Copa Sudamericana most people expected the tie to be hard fought. After only two minutes of play Newell's defender Nicolás Spolli proved just how hard fought the game would be with a this chest high kung-fu kick on Central full back Paulo Ferrari.

For more crazy South American football check out the rest of the Cosas locas series.

Cosas locas: Luis Suárez bite

Uruguay and Ajax striker Luis Suárez had already made himself a bit of a hate figure after his last minute handball prevented Ghana from making it to the semi-finals of the World Cup. Other more level headed people realised that the opportunity came from a free kick earned through a blatant dive, what he did was an instinctive reaction and that Ghana should have scored the penalty anyway. However Suarez's constant diving in the World Cup was unjustifiable.

On 20 November 2010 in a game against PSV he really cemented his place as one of 2010's football villains by biting opposition player Otman Bakkal on the neck.

For more crazy South American football check out the rest of the Cosas locas series.

Cosas Locas: Ron the dog vs Carlos Navarro Montoya, 1991

Navarro Montoya inspecting his wound.

22 May 1991: Chilean side Colo-Colo hosted Argentine giants Boca Juniors in the second leg of the Copa Libertadores semi-final. Colo-Colo were 1-0 down from the first leg but won the game 3-1 to become the first Chilean side ever to progress to the final.

The most famous incident of the night happened during a pitch invasion. Remarkably the Chilean police appeared to be too busy intimidating the Boca Juniors players with dogs to bother about all of the fans on the pitch. Eventually a police dog named Ron bit the Boca Juniors goalkeeper Carlos Fernando Navarro Montoya on the right calf.

Aftermath

Colo-Colo won the final of the 1991 Copa Libertadores beating Paraguayan side Olimpia 3-0 on aggregate in the final to become the first, and to date only Chilean side to win the premier club competition in South America.

Carlos "el mono" Navarro Montoya recovered from the bite to have a long and successful career, playing until his retirement in 2009 at the age of 43.

The police dog Ron became instantly famous in Chile as "el perro que mordió un mono" (the dog that bit a monkey) his picture appeared on the covers of several newspapers and magazines and he spent much of the rest of his life touring the country. His life ended on 10 November 1997 but his fame continues, the fans of Colo-Colo erected a statue of him and he even has a Facebook page in his honour.

For more crazy South American football check out the rest of the Cosas locas series.

Cosas locas: Battle of Santiago

To quote David Coleman this "is the most stupid, appalling, disgusting and disgraceful exhibitions of football, possibly in the history of the game". This is Chile vs Italy in the 1962 World Cup, which is more commonly known as the battle of Santiago.

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Cosas locas: Gastón Sessa vs Rodrigo Palacio.

2 May 2007: Vélez Sársfield were 1-0 down against Boca Juniors in a Copa Libertadores tie when their goalkeeper got himself sent off for kicking Rodrigo Palacio in the face. After the red card was shown Sessa seemed to be trying to defend himself by making a kicking gesture but nobody else was watching by then, they were too busy having a scuffle with the referee.

Martín Palermo did a familiar job with the penalty, but Boca went on to win the game 3-0 despite the miss and the tie 4-3 on aggregate, they progressed to the final where they beat Brazilian side Grêmio 5-0 on aggregate to win their 6th Copa Libertadores.

For more crazy South American football check out the rest of the Cosas locas series.

Come on ref, how's that only a yellow card?

21 September 2010: In the second leg of the Copa Sudamericana tie between Colombian side Deportes Tolima and Bolivian side Oriente Petrolero the Colombian player Jhon Hurtado jumped recklessly into a challenge with Oriente Petrolero's Paraguayan forward Francisco Argüello which left him with a severely broken leg. It happened right in front of referee Juan Soto, who unbelievably deemed the challenge worthy of only a yellow card.

Tolima held on to win the game 2-0 and eliminated Oriente Petrolero from the competition 2-1 on aggregate.

For more crazy South American football check out the rest of the Cosas locas series.

Benjamin Massing vs Claudio Caniggia

In the opening game of the 1990 World Cup Cameroon shocked the world by beating reigning champions Argentina 1-0 thanks to a dreadful fumble by Argentine keeper Nery Pumpido. One of the highlights of the game was Claudio Cannigia's amazing run which was ended by Benjamin Canning's crazy boot flying tackle which earned him a red card and made Cameroon see out the game with only 9 players on the pitch.

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José Pedrozo strangling the referee

17 July 2010: In a Chilean 2nd division fixture between Universidad de Concepción and Rangers de Talca,  Rangers' Paraguayan defender José Pedrozo was about to be sent off for his 2nd yellow card when he decided that the best way to escape the booking would be to strangle the referee.

Rangers went on to lose the game 3-0 and Pedrozo received a 27 game suspension.

For more crazy South American football check out the rest of the Cosas locas series.

Blooming vs Oriente Petrolero 2009

In August 2009 Bolivian sides Oriente Petrolero and Blooming met for the Santa Cruz derby. The game became notorious for an incident that started off with one of the most blatant professional fouls you will ever see from Oriente Petrolero's Uruguayan defender Leonardo Medina on Sergio Jáuregui. The referee was about to send off Medina when Jáuregui ran over to Medina and pushed him over, leaving the referee no choice but to send them both off.

As the players were leaving the field Jáuregui sprinted at Medina performing a flying kung-fu kick into his opponents neck, leaving Medina hospitalised for 12 days and earning himself a 9 month ban from football and some criminal charges. The game ended 2-2.

For more crazy South American football check out the rest of the Cosas locas series.