The fires have long since gone out, the taunting graffiti sprayed around the barrio of Nunez has long been cleaned and River Plate have come a long way from that disastrous day in 2011 when they were relegated to the Argentine Segunda Division.
For Argentina's biggest and most successful club, Wednesday's Final against Tigres offers the opportunity to seal their redemption from that awful day that haunts some River fans to this day.
River Plate have long established themselves as a club of success since their founding in 1901. 36 Primera Division titles, eight national cups, two Copa Libertadores trophies and a host of other titles stand as testament to this, but all of that felt very far away only four years ago.
For football fans all over the world River Plate will always be associated with three things: extraordinary success, the talent that this produced in its academies and its rivalry with Boca Juniors.
Having produced some of the best Argentine players ever throughout the 90's and 00's, including Hernan Crespo, Pablo Aimar, Javier Mascherano and Gonzalo Higuain River´s production line began to slow down as the 2000´s came to and end the team began its decline.
A decline that would see them unable to face their rivals Boca as they sunk into the division below them. To their fans, the abyss of Argentine football.
Under the now disgraced former presidential leadership of Daniel Passarella, River sold all of their best talent and mysteriously failed to invest the profits from those sales back into the squad.
Something that would render the playing staff so bereft of talent that it would sink out of the Primera division for the first time in its history.
In the four years since, the famous club has stabilized its leadership off the pitch and admirably climbed their way back into the Primera Division and claimed their first Primera title in six years, as well as collecting a Copa Campeonato in 2014 on it.
Ultimately, however, River have not fully eradicated the ghosts of the past as they have failed in South America´s top competition, the Copa Libertadores. Something that would act as not only a grand triumph but also as a cleanser for the wounds of recent years.
When Hernan Crespo headed in his and River Plates second goal on June 26th 1996 he sealed the clubs second ever Copa Libertadores title, a competition that the club has always had an obsession with winning.
Having broken records in domestic football, River´s inability to win the Libertadores regularly and seal their domination over the continents other football teams has turned the competition into their annual holy grail.
This year, however, marks their furthest ever campaign since Crespo´s heroics in 1996 and their best chance to lay the ghosts of 2011 to rest.
As the current crop of River Plate players takes to the Monumental pitch on Wednesday night they will know that a win will write their names into the clubs history books forever.
If River can indeed claim victory over Tigres it will mean a return to all the things that River Plate has always stood for. Success lead by a new young and exciting group of players and a third Copa Libertadores title - one more than their rivals Boca Juniors.
For all the talk of Tigres becoming the first Mexican team ever to win the Copa Libertadores, Wednesday will also mark an opportunity for an equally historic storyline to be fulfilled.
For fans of River Plate, until the Copa Libertadores is once again lifted at the Estadio Monumental, the fires of 2011 will still be burning, the graffiti will still be taunting them and the team will not quite have fully redeemed itself.
River Plate vs Tigres Copa Libertadores Final Second-LegPreview, TV Links, Live Stream Here
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