Buenos Aires is a city obsessed. It is impossible not to realise that there is a major game about to happen, that, on Saturday, River Plate will play Boca Juniors in the second leg of the Copa Libertadores final. The way the first leg went has only whetted the appetite. It is not only that it finished 2-2, a thrilling game that gives River a slight edge. It was everything that went round it.

There was the 24-hour delay because of torrential rain, as though the elements themselves felt the game deserved an extended buildup, a sense of chaos, of gratification delayed, just as anticipation for the Rumble in the Jungle was enhanced when it was postponed after George Foreman sustained a cut in training. There were anxious eyes on the weather forecast this week as well, but after storms on Thursday, it should be clear for the weekend.

There were the viral videos of people celebrating, shouting from balconies and out of windows, hammering on neighbours’ doors and shrieking from cars; grandparents in tears, kissing television screens; long chains of profanity exhibiting extraordinary linguistic virtuosity and anatomical imagination, despite – or perhaps because – Argentinians only ever seem to use three swear words (two sorts of genitalia and an ancient profession).

Play Video Boca Juniors v River Plate: the fiercest rivalry in football – video explainer

The arrivals hall at Ezeiza teems with club shirts, mainly River but Boca as well, even though away fans are banned. An estimated 60,000 turned up to watch Boca’s open training session at la Bombonera. For many just to be in the city, watching with like-minded fans, is enough. But for just as many it is not. The black market in tickets is roaring. Hospitality packages are supposedly going for more than £30,000, even though this is a country in the depths of financial crisis. A reminder of that, perhaps, was given by the River socio offering up his ticket to anybody who could give him a job.

Bus stops are adorned with posters featuring a fan of each club and the message that the cup is staying in Argentina – as though that is going to placate whoever loses. There will again be special “zen” commentaries for fans with medical conditions, eschewing the habitual frenzy of the Latin American commentary for a much calmer delivery. There were none of the familiar stories of heart attacks after the first leg, so perhaps they worked.

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There will be changes to both teams. River will be without the suspended forward Rafael Borré, which could lead to a major reorganisation. Nacho Scocco, who had a brief and inglorious spell at Sunderland under Gus Poyet, could be back from a calf strain sustained three weeks ago, or the 31-year-old Uruguayan Rodrigo Mora could come in, or it may be that Marcelo Gallardo opts for a single striker with Pity Martínez dropping off Lucas Pratto. It could be a back three or a back four.

Boca, too, may be forced into a change of shape, not merely because their 4-3-3 tends to be quite narrow and so susceptible to the 3-5-2, but because of the injury that forced off Cristian Pavón in the first half two weeks ago. The Colombian Edwin Cardona, who has troubled River before, most notably in the Supercopa this year, could come in for him, although the shape is by no means certain.

Cardona could operate on the left of a 4-3-3, centrally in a 4-4-2 diamond or off the striker in a 4-4-1-1, although if that is the shape Guillermo Barros Schelotto goes for, he will be fighting for his place with Carlos Tevez. From a narrative point of view, it feels as though Tevez must have a role to play. Last time he played at el Monumental in the Libertadores was in the 2004 semi-final, when he was sent off for celebrating a goal like a chicken, mocking River’s reputation as “gallinas” – chickens, or chokers.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest River Plate fans wait for the team bus to leave the Monumental stadium before the first leg. Photograph: Marcos Brindicci/Reuters

Both managers played in that tie, although Gallardo missed the second leg through suspension after being sent off at la Bombonera. He will also be suspended on Saturday, as the second part of his three-match suspension for breaching a touchline ban in the semi-final. But that is the nature of games like this: everywhere, it feels, there are historical parallels and comparisons, so it almost comes to seem this game were destined to happen.

Every decision feels as though it could echo through eternity, the stroke of genius that won the cup or the folly that lost it. That’s what makes the probable return of Esteban Andrada in the Boca goal so surprising. The 23-year-old Agustín Rossi excelled in the first leg, making a number of fine saves, but Andrada, who has been out for two months with a fractured jaw, returned this week in the league against Patronato, a game brought forward so he could prove his fitness. One save late on to deny Matías Garrido reportedly convinced Schelotto to go back to Andrada, who has kept eight clean sheets in his 10 games for the club.

If he fumbles, neither he nor Schelotto will ever be allowed to forget it, but he could be the hero. And that’s what makes this game so special. A space has already been cleared in the annals: it is not just a match for Saturday, or this week or this month or this year, but for ever.