The other final: 'Sub Zero' back as River barra boss, war in Belgrano | OneFootball

By Gustavo Grabia for TyC Sports

The hooded man who stormed in during the 2011 playoff is now the head of Los Borrachos del Tablón, and in Córdoba they are expecting him to try to get into the final. In the opposite stand, an internal feud is boiling over, with multimillion-dollar business deals and disputes over the World Cup.

This Sunday, Córdoba will host the final of the domestic tournament. And the province is on edge over River’s arrival with Los Borrachos del Tablón, but also because of the infighting within Belgrano’s barra brava, which has been threatening for some time to explode in the worst possible way, after several clashes that have been taking place since the beginning of this year. That is why, so everything unfolds peacefully, a security operation has been put together with 1,100 provincial officers at the entrances and around the Mario Alberto Kempes stadium, as well as Gendarmerie forces deployed along the highway to monitor Millonario’s violent supporters.

Although the entire operation will be coordinated by the local Security Ministry, there will also be participation from Argentine Federal Police groups and the Anti-Narcotics division, in addition to the gendarmes. Added to that are those who will be monitoring the Tribuna Segura program, probably the one facing the biggest challenges this Sunday, given that the entire leadership of Los Borrachos is banned from attending, but also intends to get in, while something similar is happening with Los Piratas Celestes de Alberdi, as the faction that controls the stand of the Córdoba team calls itself.

In River’s case, it is no minor detail that the current leader, Mauro Ferreras, is the same fan who, hooded, entered to attack his own players during the first leg of the 2011 playoff between Millonario and Belgrano, played in Córdoba, which later resulted in River’s relegation. Sub Zero, as he was dubbed at the time because of his resemblance to a character from the video game Mortal Kombat, is the boss 15 years later, though now banned from attending despite the influence he has over his crew. That ill-fated night he got onto the pitch, attacked Adalberto Román — who had just committed an absurd penalty — and then went face to face with referee Néstor Pitana and with the leader of that squad, Matías Almeyda.

From the Tribuna Segura program, they say he is the top target to keep out. The six barra buses will leave from Figueroa Alcorta Avenue, very close to the entrance to the Monumental, and it has already been established that they will take the Panamericana and Route 9 to the Rosario-Córdoba highway. There will be checkpoints from the City Police, Buenos Aires Province Police, and Rosario police until they enter the central province, and all the buses will be searched at least twice. Departure is expected around midnight on Saturday.

Mauro Ferreras, the one wearing the Argentina national team jersey and dark glasses, hugging Exequiel Palacios. The photo is from late 2023, when River beat Central in the Trofeo de Campeones in Santiago del Estero.

In Belgrano’s case, the situation is much hotter. Because the alliance between Pedro “el Gitano” Minuet and Lucas Pavón, which pushed the historic Roberto “Tito” Ponce out of the popular stand, broke apart after two years of a marriage of convenience. The popular stand stayed with el Gitano, who has the backing of the club leadership, but Pavón, with strong union ties, is still trying to return with his group.

It is a story of betrayals, gunfire, and money, as always. Minuet was actually Tito’s second-in-command, and among other things traveled with him to several World Cups and even became part of the leadership of Hinchadas Unidas Argentinas. But when Pavón appeared on the scene with the support of Mauricio Saillén, the head of the garbage collectors’ union, el Gitano knew he either switched sides or he too would end up out of the stands. Tito got a sendoff, and that was that.

On the left, el Gitano Minuet, at the World Cup in Qatar. And on the right, Lucas Pavón.

The problem is that the former boss had been promised that despite his departure, he would still receive part of the benefits generated by the popular stand. And that never happened. That is why “Loco Tito” wanted to return with his people, and there were five gun battles until the courts last year handed down suspended prison sentences along with stadium bans. This affected Pavón but not el Gitano, who, seeing the opening, took control of everything, which triggered another internal feud from late 2025 that also included gunfire until, in March of this year, Minuet won.

That is when those who took his side came out on top, among them a heavy group from the Rivera Indarte area led by Leandro Moya, who also allied with two other branches of the barra: the downtown one with Leonardo Brocal as boss, and the Arguello neighborhood one headed by Sergio “Cucuya” Ibarra. This new group answers to el Gitano, but they are also noticing strange dealings: three weeks before the World Cup, the only ones with guaranteed trips are Minuet, who was in 2022 as a visible face of the Argentine barra, and his five longest-serving lieutenants. On top of that, there was a collection drive to pay for lodging because the tickets are already being covered by the club leadership.

In that context, moreover, nobody expected Belgrano to reach the final and open up the possibility of making enormous money from ticket resale and the naranjitas, Córdoba’s version of Buenos Aires’ trapitos. Moya then went on social media to threaten Pavón not to even come close to trying to recover the lost cash flow, but also, more subtly, leader Minuet, so that the split would be fair and so that he and people from his group would go to the World Cup. And in that post he says: “I’m going to bring you down everywhere because I’ve got balls, I’m not afraid of going to jail. You are, you’re terrified of that. You got an ID thanks to me, you bunch of idiots. Now you’re not getting in anymore. As long as I’m around, you’re not getting in anymore.”

With this backdrop, the final will be played on Sunday. That is why there is a massive operation so that nothing happens. 1,100 Córdoba police officers, 270 private security personnel, another 230 officers from different provinces who will monitor the roads, groups of gendarmes, and Tribuna Segura officers. Yes, more than 1,500 uniformed personnel so that nothing spoils the promised celebration.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.