Rosario Central will return to the Copa Libertadores at the Gigante on Thursday, and the club has sent a direct message to its supporters: take care of the home ground and avoid sanctions. Through a video, Central drove the point home with a blunt line: “El respeto es titular.”
The warning comes just before the team opens Group H against Independiente del Valle at 19:00, in a match that will be shown on Fox Sports and Disney+ Premium. Central asked fans to push the side “without crossing the line” and reminded them that Conmebol rules apply from the first whistle.
The club spelled out what that means in practice. Pyrotechnics are out. So are objects thrown onto the field, laser pointers, climbing fences, TV cabins or television structures, and invading the playing area. The message also urged supporters to avoid any attack on the visiting delegation and any discriminatory act.
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Central’s urgency is not abstract. The club has recent precedents that ended in sporting punishments, and it said there will be zero tolerance for inappropriate behavior on Thursday. That matters because Conmebol can move fast and move hard when rules are broken, with high financial sanctions among the possible penalties.
The scale of those consequences is part of the pressure around the match. Individual measures can include expulsion from the stadium, bans from future games, suspension as a member, and restrictions on attending mass events for a prolonged period. At the institutional level, the punishments can be heavier still: fines, playing without fans, partial stand closures, a change of venue, loss of points, limits on registering players, or even exclusion from the tournament.
That is the backdrop for a night Central wants to keep inside the lines. The club is trying to avoid repeating sanction-related incidents in a competition where small details can change everything, while Independiente del Valle arrives in Rosario with good recent results and leading its domestic league. For Rosario Central, the football will start at 19:00; the risk, from the club’s point of view, starts long before that.
