Chaos for River-Boca: Two Bernabeus could be filled Final Copa Libertadores 2018 - River vs Boca Unexpected demand for tickets

Since it became official that the second leg of the Copa Libertadores final between River Plate and Boca Juniors will be played at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu on Sunday, December 9, madness has ensued in the search for tickets.

In less than 24 hours, more than 150,000 requests have already been made and the stands in Madrid could be filled twice with such a demand for tickets.

Managing to get one is like finding long lost treasure right now and CONMEBOL, the RFEF and Real Madrid - the three organisers - have been overwhelmed by the response and the switchboard at the RFEF was blocked by the vast quantity of calls.

Most of the requests have come from Spain-based Argentinians who have been presented with a rare opportunity to see a match that, in normal situations, would be played thousands of kilometres away.

Approximately 71,000 Argentines applied, of whom 9,000 reside in Madrid.

Furthermore, the demand for media accreditation is also extremely high with Argentine and South American media coming together with European outlets, who were originally not planning to cover the game.

There are also those who will travel from Argentina to Spain for the game and those numbers are, perhaps surprisingly, not very small.

Air Europa and Iberia airlines have been overwhelmed by the demand for travel tickets and the latter are going to request more flights to the Argentinian government.

A direct trip, depending on the days of departure, ranges from 1,600 euros to 2,400 euros, though an alternative can be found by flying through connecting airports like Sao Paolo to bring the price down to 750 euros.

The game has been declared as a high security risk event and unprecedented safety plans are being drawn up.