Boca visited the Tigers a few weeks ago and it was a success for Xeneize. Photo: Marcelo Carroll.
The announcement of the Professional Football League Cup final to be played this Sunday in Córdoba is being sold as “The revenge”. It is logical, Boca and Tigre met again in a decisive match as happened in 2019 when the Matador, who is also in Kempes, surprised the team led by Gustavo Alfaro and won the first title in its history with Néstor Gorosito as DT. Despite being relegated, the team got the chance to play the Copa Libertadores.
A lot of things happened in the middle, but for Tiger it seemed like a story whose argumentative thread wasn’t cut: at First National he led the team Diego Martinez, won the tournament with an impeccable final sprint and with an unappealing final victory against Barracas Central. “Hand in hand with the Gigolo …”, the players sang in reference to the coach. And that winning inertia remained in the First Division.
Tiger is on the brink of achieving something historic: to be champion in promotion and immediately in the First Division. Something Rosario Central only achieved in the 86/87 season, with the help of Angel Tulio Zof. But of course Boca is on the other side.
Sebastián Prediger and Carlos Izquierdoz at the press conference for the League Cup final between Boca and Tigre. Photo: JUAN JOSE GARCIA.
If for Tiger on balance everything will be profit after the penalty — if he wins, the obvious; and if he loses, he will close out a good tournament-, for Boca the pressure is different. Sebastián Battaglia reached the quarterfinals of the tournament somewhat stumbled. He arranged the pieces and between the championship and Libertadores He has six games unbeaten with four wins and two draws (one of them with a win on penalties against Racing to reach this final).
But it’s intimate – and vice president Juan Román Riquelme and the team’s coach, among others, also manage to emphasize – at Boca World everything has a different importance and a different weight. “When Boca wins, it becomes small; and when it loses, everything is bigger,” Román declared on TV. And this will be the key – again – against Sunday for another final that the team will have to face on Thursday in Bombonera against Deportivo Cali for the final date of Group E of the Libertadores where they are forced to win to advance to the round.
Thus, the battle in Córdoba is not about a duel of styles, but of hierarchies because of the specific weight of one and the other. Defeat for Boca will be the beginning of a new “crisis” that the media will only exacerbate and Battaglia will be re -judged on the outcome set. and driven by a victory against the Colombians. For Tigre, on the other hand, winning means adding his second star, which will qualify for the 2023 Copa Libertadores and 2022 Champions Trophy, which are also at stake in this final.
Sebastián Battaglia and a new final as DT of Boca. In 2021 he celebrated the Copa Argentina, against Talleres. Photo: AP Photo/Gustavo Garello.
Will David defeat Goliath? The giant is stronger, the logical thing: if it is accurate it will not be defeated. But his rival needs a proper blow to knock him down.. This is supported by the most recent antecedent: in the Monumental he left the Marcelo Gallardo River. And it’s no small thing. The Tiger has fertile soil, it needs to be carefully watered; and if Boca loses control it will go home in a quagmire.
To add drama to the finale, there will be audiences on both sides. Boca and its people will move the machinery to the land of the mountains, fernet and alfajores. And Tiger, as in 2019, will fill its sector with a consistently loyal public – even if the club will take care of absorbing part of the cost of tickets to help its people in a difficult economic time.
Led by Diego Martínez, Tigre swept the River to the Most Monumental and allowed himself to dream of repeating against Boca. Photo: Marcelo Carroll.
And as the ball spins on Kempes ’lawn, hearts tremble. But because sports and football in particular — and Boca in particular — are well -known, they go beyond the limits imposed by lime lines. The final cannot be announced without handling Villa’s case.
The Colombian striker from Boca played a semifinal against Racing 24 hours after a girl filed a complaint against him for sexual abuse with Justice, with the aggravating circumstance -in addition- of the case for gender violence led by Daniela Cortés, the former footballer’s partner – awaiting a date for an oral trial. Villa is included in Battaglia’s concentrates and all indications are that he will start this Sunday. Meanwhile, the case is crossing society and even President Alberto Fernández has addressed the issue in recent hours. In the final in Córdoba surely the spotlight is on the Villa as well and it will show where everyone stands.
Special envoy to Cordoba
Source: Clarin
