yelled it red frames with all his strength. With his mouth full open of goal. With clenched fists. Afterwards, the defender thanked the support of the fans of Mouth that “they put up with everything”. They were the image and the words that summed up the xeneize relief that meant the narrow 1-0 victory against Talleres, for the Argentine league.
It’s been 15 years since Boca won the Libertadores. And that pending account became an obsession. That is why the recent elimination against Corinthians on penalties unleashed multiple conflicts and put everything in doubt.
Coach Sebastián Battaglia was fired. It was confirmed until the end of the year as DT Hugo Ibarra, one of the champions of the Bianchi Era who had not yet led in the First Division. There were discussions about the prizes in the run-up to Corinthians that led to the marginalization of the ownership of captain Carlos Izquierdoz. Boca, in the episode following the goodbye cupbearer, lost the classic with San Lorenzo showing a reprehensible attitude.
Now, in the lobby of Talleres, another of the referents, Darío Benedetto, had pointed out that Izquierdoz’s departure was not for soccer reasons. And it had been installed as a rumor that they would also take the tape from the new captain, Marcos Rojo, something that in the end did not happen.
With the uncertainty about how the fans would react in the Bombonera, Boca went out to play against Talleres. People, from time to time, supported the team. And the team, without lucidity, with nerves, with tension, reaped a tight victory. Of course, this match did not serve to end the karma of the penalties that caught Benedetto. Pipa, who had wasted two against Corinthians, had the third at the start of the game. He wanted to secure it by kicking hard and to the middle, but the shot hit the crossbar.
Boca won it with a penalty committed against Benedetto himself in the second half, but Pipa did not kick. Since they damaged his ankle, he turned the execution over to Red. And Marcos assumed her with total coldness: he touched her softly, at her side. Then yes the frantic celebration.
It is like this: Boca plays against Boca, against its ghosts, against its 15 years without Libertadores, against the problems it generates for itself. Now another story is beginning. We will have to see how the team that has Juan Román Riquelme as vice president goes through it.
Racing and Independiente remain in the tie
The history of Boca was written on a Saturday that also featured the two Avellaneda teams in action. Independiente, after the resignation of Eduardo Domínguez, was directed temporarily by Claudio Graf. In the Libertadores de América, the Red matched 0-0 with Carlos Tevez’s Rosario Central. The fans of the Devil exploded against the leaders demanding elections, drew incidents with the police and insulted the players.
Against the other team from Rosario but as a visitor, against Newell’s in Parque de la Independencia, Racing played. Everything also ended 0-0. Fernando Gago valued the point of the Academy in a complicated scenario and highlighted the four or five goal chances that his team did not know how to take advantage of.
The other two matches of the day were the 3-1 win for Argentinos as a visitor against Barracas Central and the 0-0 win between Gimnasia and Central. The eighth day of the Argentine league will close today with five games: Vélez-River, Banfield-San Lorenzo, Unión-Huracán, Godoy Cruz-Lanús and Tigre-Estudiantes.
The championship today has three pointers with 16 units: Newell’s, Atlético Tucumán and Argentinos. Second with 15 is Gymnastics. Third with 14 appear Racing, Platense and Huracán. Then, with 13, Godoy Cruz and Unión. Just when he was 12, Boca emerged, this Boca that one Saturday began to breathe again.
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