5-0 win for Boca on aggregate. Interesting to see what happens to Riquelme now.
Riquelme’s double completes a happy return
Boca’s Libertadores win marked them out as the most successful club side of the millennium and it’s all down to the return of a famous son.
Rodrigo Orihuela
June 21, 2007 3:59 PM
Boca have done it again. They’ve won the Copa Libertadores, their fourth this century and their sixth overall. And this time it was all about one man: Juan Romn Riquelme. He scored twice last night in a 2-0 win that gave Boca a 5-0 aggregate win over Brazil’s Grmio in the two-legged final.
Whether you love or hate him, there is no denying that the playmaker was the star of the tournament, in the same way that keeper Oscar Crdoba dominated in 2000 and 2001 and Riquelme’s mate Carlos Tevez outplayed everybody else in 2003.
There is no exaggerating the magnitude of Boca’s feat - it is the stuff of history books. Well, footballing history books, at least. How many teams in the world can claim to have been champions of their continent four times in eight years? And to have won two other continental cups in between (the Copa Sudamericanas of 2004 and 2005)? Not many, if any at all. And definitely none this century.
Four coaches - Carlos Bianchi, Jorge Bentez, Alfio Basile and Miguel Russo - have managed Boca since the start of their golden run in 2000, key players have left along the way, a few have returned. Still the team keeps on winning.
Those returning players have probably been the key aspect in the 2007 championship. Four of yesterday’s starters are currently in their second or third spells at the club: full-backs Hugo Ibarra and Clemente Rodrguez, striker Martn Palermo and Riquelme. Substitute midfielder Sebastin Battaglia is also enjoying his second term with the team. But of all the homecomings Riquelme’s has been the most important - the entire team play better when he’s on the pitch, fans love him and rivals fear him.
Boca were full of confidence before the match kicked-off yesterday in Grmio’s Estdio Olmpico. And they should have been after their sweeping 3-0 victory in the first leg in foggy Buenos Aires. As the match unfolded it became clear the Argentines would let the hosts set the pace. But whenever the Brazilians attempted to attack it was usually shambolic. With Boca struggling to muster a decent chance and Grmio’s own forays relying more on spirit than ideas, the final was a classic boring, gritty Libertadores match and, had it all ended in a goalless draw, Boca’s keeper Mauricio Caranta would have likely been the man-of-the-match.
Grmio had the two best chances, first with a shot against the crossbar three minutes before the break and then with a header by former Boca defender Rolando Schiavi that hit the post just after half-time.
Everything changed 23 minutes into the second half, though, as Riquelme collected a pass from Ibarra on the left of Grmio’s area and opened the scoring with a magnificent shot that drifted just inside Sebastin Saja’s far post.
Twelve minutes later Riquelme slotted home a rebound after Saja saved Rodrigo Palacio’s initial shot. Boca were 2-0 up, and Riquelme could hear the jingle of the car keys awarded to the man-of-the-match.
Three minutes later, Palermo was fouled in the area by Schiavi as he stretched for a cross. Riquelme was entitled to take the penalty and claim his hat-trick, but gave Palermo the ball, only to see his skipper miss the target completely. Little did it matter. The victory had already been sealed.
This year’s Libertadores will be remembered for years to come, and not only because of Riquelme’s performance. In the year when Fifa banned games in stadiums over 2,500m, Boca had to play group-stage matches in Cusco, Toluca and La Paz, three of the highest cities in Latin America. The draw in La Paz and the defeat in Toluca had people thinking Boca would be knocked out right then and there. Things also got complicated after their 3-0 defeat to Deportivo Ccuta in the first leg of the semi-final. But Boca recovered on every occasion and Riquelme, who isn’t exactly the most prolific striker, scored in the win against Ccuta, just as he scored in both second-round matches against Vlez. It’s almost unbelievable that he was not even part of the team at the start of the year and was only loaned in from Villarreal in February.
Riquelme’s loan spell might have had something to do with the fact that Boca chairman Mauricio Macri is running for mayor of Buenos Aires. Macri would have known that the return of such a popular son would do his election chances no harm. And he was right - he’s leading the polls going into Sunday’s run-off. Riquelme probably won’t be around for long though - Macri has already announced that the club don’t have enough money to retain him. Last night’s win may be enough to satisfy Boca’s fans though, they know Riquelme considers Boca his home and his stellar performance in this year’s Libertadores is enough.