Legendary Argentine football giants River Plate were relegated from the country’s top division late Sunday for the first time in their 110-year history, amid tears and scenes of violent mayhem.

The Buenos Aires team are Argentina’s most successful club with 33 championships to their name, and their rivalry with Boca Juniors, based in the same city, is one of the most intense in all sport.

But there will be no Superclasicos next season unless the two sides draw each other in a cup competition, after River Plate were held 1-1 at home in the second leg of a promotion-relegation play-off with lowly Belgrano de Cordoba.

The Primera B side had won the first leg 2-0, meaning River Plate had to win by two clear goals to stay up under the play-off system rules.

The Millionaires, as the team are known, got off to the best possible start, Mariano Pavone scoring after just five minutes. But they failed to settle and Guillermo Farre silenced the 50,000-crowd in the Estadio Monumental with an equaliser for the Cordobans in the 61st minute.

Pavone had a chance to put River Plate back in command with a penalty just nine minutes later, but his spot-kick was saved by goalkeeper Juan Carlos Olave.

As violence erupted among supporters, referee Sergio Pezzotta brought the tie to a close on 89 minutes, giving Belgrano a 3-1 aggregate win and a place in history.

Juan Jose Lopez’s players, having brought their illustrious club to an unprecedented low on a cold winter afternoon, spent several minutes hugging each other, in tears, before leaving the pitch.

Belgrano de Cordoba departed under a hail of missiles from the home crowd, as fire-fighters sprayed water hoses into the stands to try to restore order.

The violence soon spread to the streets outside the stadium, where police used horses and water cannon to control furious fans, television footage showed.

About 2,200 police had been deployed for the match.