It was one of those nights when Cusco shifted the spotlight from its tourism engine to football. At a stadium named after Garcilaso de la Vega – celebrated for his chronicles about the Inca empire – about 30,000 people gathered to witness something far more immediate than nearby Machu Picchu, arguably the best-known archaeological site in the Americas.
Cusco’s biggest team, Cienciano, were set to play in the first leg of the Copa Sudamericana quarter-final, 23 years after they became the first Peruvian club to lift an international trophy.
