Buenos Aires (AFP)

New generation lawn, removal of the athletics track and expansion of the stands: River Plate will carry out major work in the mythical Monumental stadium, taking advantage of the closed doors imposed by the Covid-19, announced the Buenos Aires club on Tuesday.

River wants to transform the pitch into "a next-generation hybrid system, in order to do away with many of the problems inherent to the pitches in the country," the club said.

The obsolete athletics track will be removed and the field lowered in order to install new stands, closer to the game.

In the context of the coronavirus pandemic, River is taking advantage of the fact that the matches of the coming months will have to be played without spectators to carry out this work and make the stadium the "best playground in the country".

Consequently, River will have to play his next Copa Libertadores matches scheduled at home, against Brazilians in Sao Paulo (September 30) and Ecuadorians in Liga in Quito (October 21), in another venue.

River will inform the South American Football Confederation (Conmebol) of these changes and of its willingness to play these matches in its Ezeiza complex (30 km south of Buenos Aires), which however does not have the necessary facilities to allow televised broadcasting. Problem which could push River to rent another stadium.

This decision is reminiscent of Real Madrid in Spain, which won La Liga by ending the season in its small Di Stéfano training stadium (6,000 seats), behind closed doors, because of the work in progress at the Santiago-Bernabeu.

In Argentina, the Ministry of Health on Tuesday allowed teams to resume training from August 10, after almost five months of inactivity.

Built in 1938, the Monumental, the largest stadium in Argentina, saw Mario Kempès lift the first World Cup won by the albiceleste in 1978. Ten years earlier, "the tragedy of the door N. 12" had made 71 dead in a stampede at the end of a Clasico River-Boca.

Since then, the capacity of the Monumental, which has reached up to 76,000 seats, has been reduced to 63,000 for safety reasons.

© 2020 AFP