30 years ago, Boca began their journey towards a title that cut a drought that lasted eleven years

On June 30, 1991 there was a party at the Bombonera. Before starting the match with Platense, they made the Olympic lap in front of 60,000 spectators. Diego Maradona gave a huge flag to the fan as a sign of gratitude to the team and managers. Subsequently, Boca defeated Platense 3-0 with goals from Gabriel Batistuta, Diego Latorre and Walter Pico. “Boca celebrated: champion and unbeaten”, reads the cover of Clarín. But Boca was not champion.

It is true that the regulatory change relating to the 1988/89 season caused confusion for the 1990/91 season. But also in Clarín, in its internal pages, a clarification can be read almost in small print: “Although the regulation clearly provides that one must wait for a definition with that of Newell, even if the sample is consecrated only after the final ones and even if that l ‘topic is the current Chicana of opposing fans “.

But she wasn’t just a Chicano. After the end of the Clausura 91 tournament, Boca played with Newell’s, who also celebrated first place in -Aprtura 90 as if he had won a title), the final for the title of the season. On 9 July 1991, in La Bombonera, the team of the Rosario was crowned champion after winning the definition on penalties. The clarity of the regulations was then endorsed by the AFA, which acclaimed only one champion in the 90/91 season: Newell’s.

Antonio Alegre, president of Boca, recounted his sadness a week later in Solo Fútbol magazine: “We have gone from enormous joy to this sadness that hurts us a lot. I think that the instance we arrived at, with the merits shown by Boca, did not deserve a definition of heads or tails like that in penalties. But, well, it wasn’t for us, and in football, as in life, you have to know how to lose. What saddens us the most is that we were only there for the title, which was actually the last thing this team would have missed to crown an exceptional season ”.

What does Boca’s frustration have to do with the 30th anniversary of the opening of the Apertura 92 title? Due to the protest of the leaders of xeneizes, Julio Grondona agreed to change the rules and since then there have been two champions per season, a tradition that has been maintained until 2014. From one year to the next a keyword has been changed in the rules: winner by champion.

A final was played in 1991/92, the same as last year, but to determine the first team to qualify for the Copa Libertadores. The other was born from the Liguilla Pre Libertadores, played that year for the last time. River won Apertura 91, Newell’s, Clausura 92 and the finals to go to the Cup were won by the millionaire. Subsequently Leprosy, who had just lost the final against San Pablo, obtained the passport by beating Vélez 1-0 in the Liguilla final.

Since the 1992/93 season the two champions have qualified for the Libertadores. And Boca was the first champion. On 9 August 1992, that Tuesday marking their 30th anniversary, Boca began the journey to leave 11 years of frustration behind with a goalless draw against Deportivo Mandiyú at the Huracán Corrientes stadium. Maestro Oscar Washington Tabárez was still the coach, but Batistuta and Latorre were no longer there, both of whom had succumbed to Italian football.

In that first meeting, Boca formed as follows: Carlos Navarro Montoya; Diego Sonora, Juan Simon, Alejandro Giuntini, Carlos Mac Allister; José Luis Villarreal, Blas Giunta, Daniel Tapia, Alberto Márcico; Roberto Cabanas and Carlo. Then Walter Pico and Sergio Manteca Martínez entered. “The new Boca did not appear in Corrientes” was the title of the cover created by Julio Marini, Corrientes’ special correspondent. That day Charles, Tapia, Mac Allister and Uruguayan Martínez made their debuts.

On 12 ‘of the first half, José Luis Restelli and Villarreal were sent off for mutual aggression and on 28’, Héctor Eduardo Morán Correa, for an elbow without the ball. Corrientes’s team played 62 minutes with one man down and Xeneize couldn’t take advantage of that advantage. “There is no excuse. The responsibility or having taken advantage of the extra man belongs to Boca and we must take it”, explained Tapia after the tie.

Rehabilitation came a week later at Bombonera, with the 2-0 against Belgrano de Córdoba, with goals from Cabañas and Villarreal, who played the same despite having seen the red card in the previous match because only reprimanded by the Disciplinary Court. In the third round they drew 0-0 with Talleres in Córdoba and in the fourth, in La Bombonera, they obtained a fundamental victory: 3-2 against Vélez. At that point, Manteca Martínez was not yet a starter. He was from 6. date, in the 2-2 against Huracán, and he scored one of the goals.

Between Paraguayan Cabañas and Manteca Martínez, they scored 13 of the team’s 24 goals, an example of how important these two foreigners were in the attack of maestro Tabárez’s team, which remained unbeaten in the first 14 dates, with 9 wins and 5 draws. The Olympic lap was a matter of time.

However, a 1-0 defeat to Independiente and another to Deportivo Español, both at the Bombonera, in the 15 ‘. and 17a. date, put the title at risk. After beating Platense 3-1 at Independiente’s court on their penultimate round, they needed at least a draw on the final matchday against San Martín de Tucumán to be crowned champions. River had two points less and visited Argentinos at the Iron court.

Both matches started at 20:00 on December 20 and were broadcast simultaneously on Canale 13. The match played in Caballito did not end because it was suspended due to serious incidents between the police and River fans and also between the two fans during the match. ‘interval .

In the Bombonera, Boca lost 1-0 to Tucuman with a goal from Ricardo Solbes in the 19th minute of the first half. The striker quietly rehearsed a warm and lonely party in front of a Bombonera, and seconds later two colleagues approached to greet him. The relief came as soon as the second half began, with a goal from Claudio Benetti, in his only match of the tournament, which finally gave Boca the championship, after the 1-1 final. After all, it was his only goal with the Boca shirt in eleven games.

“Boca has finally shouted champion”, reads the cover of Clarín of 21 December 1992. And the relative clarification. “It had been 11 years since Boca had won the title”. The wait was over. The journey began 30 years ago.