Battle, Friday, when Boca were beaten by Banfield at the Bombonera. The penultimate false step. Photo: Juano Tesone.
Minutes before 10pm on Wednesday, with River and Vélez competing for the Libertadores’ move to the quarter-finals. They were playing that same cup that Boca won’t be able to lift this year after being knocked out, 24 hours earlier, at the hands of Corinthians, in a game they didn’t deserve to lose, but which they lost to bad, bad. , shot on penalties. The defeat became a death certificate.
Information flies and arrives in the form of a WhatsApp message. The mandatory check-up is sterile when the club’s official accounts announce the end of Sebastián Battaglia’s cycle. An end of the cycle that seemed more foretold than the death of Santiago Nasarthe character of Gabriel García Márquez in one of his many masterpieces.
The seams have been noticeable for a while. There was a before and after that episode in which Juan Román Riquelme, vice president, patron of football and everything you can imagine in Boca, forced the players to get off the bus, which they had boarded with a unusual speed, then of the match against Gymnastics at the Bombonera. That night, the TD felt that his authority had been undermined. And everything that came after was forced. Since It was a marriage of convenience that ended very badly.
Ariel Ortega and Juan Román Riquelme, a few hours before the elimination of River and Boca at the Libertadores.
In Argentina, hit once again by crises that never end and are already boring, these days we talk about pens and decisions. It is known that in Boca the pen – and the ink – is owned by Riquelme. And this meant that Battaglia, like DT, had reduced power in making decisions.
Being the most successful footballer in the club’s history wasn’t enough for him to guarantee that he didn’t have to explain everything he did. Nor the scrolls of him as DT, which were few and unfortunate for a place of such exposure. Character, which are not ideas, is not lacking. Indeed, the few times in its eventful cycle that it dared to raise its voice, its continuity was immediately questioned with spokesmen for power as the main enemies.
Battaglia is already history. The story, beyond the two Olympic laps he did, shows that the experience was bad. It will be difficult, however, for them to find another DT like him. A DT that is able to withstand so much handling. Without pen – and without ink – all DTs will be like Battaglia. All DTs will be like Santiago Nasar.
Martin Voogd
Source: Clarin
