The Best Copa90 ‘Derby Days’ Episode Ever Made

I’m not really prepared to have much debate about this one, either.

Over the years, Copa90 have dominated the new media era of football, and their ‘Derby Days’ series stands proudly as the jewel in their content crown.

As the name would suggest, it’s a production focusing on football’s biggest derbies.

Where they ship off talented presenter Eli Mengem far and wide all over the world, to uncover the history of a contested fixture in the wake of an important upcoming match.

For anyone who loves learning about football history, look no further than Derby Days.

The production team work tirelessly to develop a script that uncovers the deepest and darkest annuls of each team’s books to present a seamless description of where we’re at today. With Eli delicately blending in with the locals and other key footballing personnel to describe things better than he can (and from their own experience).

None of these interactions seem forced either, which I really appreciate.

Which is, again, a credit to Eli, and the team around him for sourcing the right features.

Before I pick my ultimate favourite, we have to credit some seriously good episodes.

The Berlin Derby, the Southampton v Pompey affair, the Atalanta v Brescia issues around Milan. All are worthy of staking a claim for the best ‘Derby Days’ edition.

But even then, they don’t hold a candle to the Superclasico of 2018.

Where Boca Juniors and River Plate squared off in the Copa Libertadores Final.

Which, as described by one of many random locals’ interviews by the Copa 90 ‘Derby Days’ cameras, is like watching Real Madrid v Barcelona in the final of the UEFA Champions League … ‘times one thousand’. Tbh, I think he’s being modest.

Imperatively, the preamble describes the antipathy between the two very well.

And by delving into their histories, setups, habits and values, it helps to paint an increasingly intriguing picture for the neutral in the lead-up to the final.

Day by day, this intrigue intensifies to the point where the viewer is properly engaged to see how this Derby Days episode was going to end between the two.

My best advice is, if you don’t know the end result, don’t look it up beforehand.

Watch this thing with fresh eyes and you’ll be on the edge of your seat.

Don’t worry, I won’t ruin it either.

The climax of the film didn’t disappoint.

Following the script of two teams who hated each other, and had a rich history of watching that passion overflow in ways most fans can’t understand.

The tifo decorations, the crowd noise and demonstrations.

It was exactly befitting the stature and prestige of the rivalry.

We also had two legs to saviour it!

That’s right, in their infinite wisdom, the powers at be have made the Libertadores final a two-legged affair – one in Boca’s stadium and the other in River’s.

Or at least, that’s how it was supposed to go!

Eurgh, I still can’t tell you what happened, so just watch it!

Better yet, just go ahead and type ‘Derby Days’ into YouTube and educate yourself on all of their episodes from start to finish. I find that having the preamble for something to get used to makes it easier to adjust to it – like when starting a new series.

Only you don’t have to pay for some stupid subscription service – I love YouTube.

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Once you get time to check out this Derby Days episode, let us know in the comments what you thought about it. Oh, and maybe tweet Eli how good he is at his job – it’s nice to be nice, innit.