Marcos Rojo and his return to football after 231 days: how it was and who was in the return of the Boca captain to the bench

Mouth added a luxury booster for the end of the semester with the return of red frames at camps 231 days after rupturing cruciate ligaments, the captain said he was present at the Ezeiza Stadium as a starter in what was the Xeneize reserve’s 2-1 win against Arsenal and nobody wanted to miss the moment.

The injury is in the past. Rojo has already experienced a small taste of what his return to the Bombonera could be like, when Jorge Almirón decides. All the love the fans have given him since October 12 last year, his last game so far, could be captured on a pitch for the first time.

Although he has been training alongside the group since the beginning of May, the news of his return to the blue shirt has generated total anticipation. Nobody wanted to miss the return of the captain.

He demonstrated this with the resistance he received from the ramparts of an overflowing property. But also thanks to the presence of all his teammates and the technical staff, who delayed Wednesday morning training to watch the game.

Juan Román Riquelme has also closely followed the return of what he considers the most representative player in the squad, the one Boca missed the most in this irregular first half-year which saw the departure of Hugo Ibarra. The vice president did not leave behind his partner and friend Clemente Rodríguez.

As reported by some users on the networks, the broadcast of the match by the streaming service AFA Play became saturated with the number of people who wanted to join the stream.

The former student and Manchester United played only the first 45 minutessomething already stipulated with the coach Mariano Herrón, even if that time earned him both to make both interventions with the ball and to demonstrate that his character is still intact.

Despite respecting the goalkeeper’s captaincy Leander Brey, Marcos was the dominant voice on the court. He always ordered his companions and thus completed a painstaking job. The central defender, paired with the young Aaron Anselmino, He was able to take charge of most of the ground starts, entrenched and effectively connecting many long balls.

He also had moments in which he suffered the logical lack of rhythm by making mistakes in some interventions, but without suffering major consequences. In the second half he was replaced by defender Luciano Vallejo.

“I am very happy to play again, to feel like a footballer again. Very grateful to the club. It’s very difficult to be outside, there’s the happiness that just playing football gives you. I am happy to play again. I have to keep working, there’s still a long way to go” Rojo said after the match, which his team won on the hour with a goal from Brandon Cortés.

And without ever breaking the mold of a team reference, he added: “A thousand things were going through my head today and I was trying to remember my last game in the Reserve. It’s very nice that people accompany it and show it on television, I hope the kids take advantage of it”

Given the good performance that the player has shown, and after feeling no discomfort in his first few minutes, Almirón is already starting to have him in their plans to add him to the starting squad as soon as possible for the first time since his arrival in charge.

For this reason, if everything goes as planned, Rojo could appear in the Boca squad in the preview of the Copa Libertadores match against Colo-Colo, next Tuesday for the fifth round of the Copa Libertadores.