The elimination of Boca opened a crater under his feet

Once again, Boca feels like a crater has opened up under his feet.. Once again, an elimination from the Copa Libertadores shakes the footballing and institutional foundations of a club that has subordinated its existence to winning the maximum continental tournament at the club level. Far from doing damage control and appeasing the effects of the defeat by shots from the penalty spot that Corinthians caused almost at midnight on Wednesday, Boca (and everything that surrounds it) reopened its old wounds in the open.

The post-match statements in which the coach Sebastian Battaglia He complained about the lack of aggressiveness of the Football Council in the current transfer market and the departure of Eduardo Salvio worsened the thick climate that began to be experienced in the Bombonera as soon as the premature defeat was sentenced. Given the finding that his words had gone down badly on campus and that they had not had a favorable echo in the Football Council led by Juan Román Riquelmeupon arrival at the Ezeiza complex, Battaglia asked for the floor to clarify the case.

“I didn’t expose my players and I’m proud, I said it last night (on Wednesday). I’m rude if I don’t answer and as a journalist asked me (at the press conference) about this issue of reinforcements, I answered it ” the coach pointed out. Then he added: “It is being installed how the squad took my statements wrong and it is not like that. I said that I felt represented by them and by what the team did. Unfortunately we were left out because we could not put it in and football is like that “, analyzed Battaglia.

“All the coaches ask for reinforcements and we ask in places that we believe the current squad can be strengthened. It’s logical. If journalism wants to turn it around and point it the other way, it’s already something that doesn’t concern me. It’s normal to ask for reinforcements at the beginning of the season”, explained Battaglia who admitted as a self-criticism that perhaps he should have included center forward Luis Vázquez to open the closed defensive scheme that the Brazilians took to Boca.

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Riquelme and the rest of the members of the Football Council did not go through Ezeiza, but it is estimated that there will be a meeting with Battaglia to let him know his annoyance at what he said and when, how and where he said it. For now, the coach’s continuity does not seem to be in question, but it will depend on how the splintered relationship with Riquelme and his team evolves and, of course, on the results that Boca obtains in the Professional League championship (in which he lost two of the five games he played and is five points off the top) and in the Copa Argentina.

In addition, Boca will have to repair the economic damage caused by another elimination in the round of 16. In principle, the two million dollars paid by Conmebol for the pass to the quarterfinals were lost, to which we must add 2,400,000 of the US currency for a hypothetical arrival in the semifinal and the collections of the home games of both series. The title of champion reports 16 million dollars and the runner-up, just six. So it is estimated that having been left out of the Cup so soon, has deprived Boca of collecting between 20 and 25 million dollars.

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