Juan Román Riquelme (left), president of Boca Juniors, and Miguel Ángel Russo, new club coach.
Photo: AFP – Juan Mabromata
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Argentine coach Miguel Ángel Russo assumed Monday as the new technical director of Boca Juniors. The experienced strategist, champion with millionaires in his passage through Colombia, assumed the reins of the xeneize With the urgent mission of preparing the team, which he will direct for the third time, for the Club World Cup.
The 69 -year -old technical fiery, who directed until a few days ago to San Lorenzo, also from the Argentine Super League, will have his debut in this new stage on June 16 against Benfica in Portugal, on the first date of the World Cup that will take place in the United States.
“I know the mouth world, I know how to drive, I know how to be and know what the Boca fan needs,” Russo said Monday at the press conference of his presentation at the club of the club in Ezeiza. In the next few days they will travel to American soil.
“We presented the last coach who gave us the Cup,” said President Xeneize, Juan Román Riquelme, in relation to the team that Russo led to the title of the Copa Libertadores in 2007. Both shared on that squad, when the manager was a professional player today.
The DT moved away from San Lorenzo last week, after a meeting with Julio Lopardo, president of the Barca entity, after the defeat against Platense (0-1) by the semifinals of the Opening Tournament, a result that left the cyclone out of the definition of the championship.
But it was also the epilogue of a second cycle that lasted seven months in San Lorenzo, with the mission of recovering a team that had had a bad season in 2024, closer to the descent positions than to fight a title, something that did get in this first semester.
Russian, happy to come home
Russo's return to Boca was an open secret. The Argentine press speculated for days about the arrival of the helmsman, known for his slow and quiet speech. “This gives me happiness, knowing this club,” Russo said by counting his career with the popular club of Buenos Aires.
His first stage at the head of Boca lasted a year (2007). He won the prestigious Copa Libertadores with Riquelme as a decisive figure of the tournament and moved away from the position after losing to AC Milan in the final of the Club World Cup. It was the last time that Xeneizes They conquered the most important continental tournament.
Russo's second stage in the club came several years later, already with Riquelme as leader, with two local titles in his bag, the 2019/2020 Super League and the Diego Maradona Cup 2020. However, that cycle went out in 2021 after being left out of the Libertadores.
The mission of recovering Boca Junior
The new mission for Russo will be to recover a mouth that has had a very bad first semester in 2025. It was eliminated in the second round of the Libertadores and defeated in the quarterfinals of the Opening Tournament, plus a series of losses in the classics, including a fall against River (1-2) that caused the dismissal of the previous DT, Fernando Gago.
Recognized for his ability to drive teams in the middle of a storm, as he did with San Lorenzo, immersed in an institutional and financial crisis, Russo was chosen again by Riquelme to quiet the internal situation.
The climate in the mouth raised temperature with the bad results and the low collective yields that ignited reproaches and insults of the fans. “Let everyone leave, that there is not one,” thousands of Boca fans were heard in the last two games in the Bombonera.
There has been an increasing discomfort towards the players, with many questioned, and for the first time with criticism of the leadership led by Riquelme, who as a footballer could be considered as the maximum idol of the club, but which as president has generated divided opinions.
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