Riquelme Effect: the 5 successes that underpinned the conquest of a historical title

Matías Bustos Mile

03/09/2020 - 15:59

• Clarín.com
• sports

Kill in hand, with the calm of a stealthy and silent strategist. Able to break the leadership of the macro in Boca after 23 years, to win a historic election in December with Jorge Ameal and achieve a historic Olympic lap in the Super League in a hand in hand against River. All that in three months. The decisions of Juan Román Riquelme are counted by successes. And while on a daily basis he learns in this new leadership role (increasingly convinced to try to be president in the next elections?), His leadership offered some key contributions to the title.

1- An ideal technician

The decision to hire Miguel Russo as a coach did not meet popular acceptance. There were doubts about his current status as a DT and also about how he would carry out the pressure of a worn-out club like Boca, but that did not reach Riquelme. He reached a meeting of about three hours in Don Torcuato to agree on the idea of ​​the game, the deal that had to be had with the squad and how they were going to seek to transform Boca without changing the last names. The experienced coach quickly incorporated and drove freely to decide and take Boca to the title. "With Román we have the same look on football, it is easy every day with him and I thank him for the opportunity he gave me to be back in this club," was Russo's message after the title. The tranquility that the coach transmitted during these days was the reason Riquelme opted for him: he knows that the best investment that can be made in Boca is to gain calm and with the DT he has it. A full.

Miguel was introduced on December 30. (Photo: Germán García Adrasti)

2- The "football language" with the squad

Having a former soccer player leader is different from everything. And that director is Juan Román Riquelme also generated a different dynamic in Boca. "Having him with us, attentive to what we need and with everything he won in this club is to have an advantage," said Colombian Jorman Campuzano. And it was Julio Buffarini who revealed a foreboding of confidence from the vice to the group: "Roman told us that if we won the remaining six games, we were champions because those above would lose points. And we could turn around." The fair distance with the group was also key. Roman appears in specific moments and then runs from the scene. Like Saturday, when after a short time of celebrations he left the box and did not even go through the locker room: he congratulated the staff in the privacy of the hotel. He knows that his figure absorbs the eyes and that is why he did not want the focus of the coaching staff and soccer players to be diverted. And that magnet he has also took the group's weight off: Riquelme was going to be the flank of criticism if Boca was not a champion. He won the bracelet again. He also lowered two messages: none is more important than the other in the locker room, and he doesn't want anyone in the club who doesn't want to wear Boca's shirt. That, far from sounding challenging, encouraged more than one.

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3- Recovered Carlos Tevez

There is a huge merit of Miguel Russo in putting together a team so that Carlitos could once again be the one of 2016, the one that shone before going to China. But it all started with a talk between Riquelme and Apache , even before the elections. Carlitos remained outside the electoral contest and Román ratified the peace of mind of leaving him at the club despite discovering that his contract had just ended in June and not in December as it had been marked in 2019. "I want Tevez to recover the desire to play to the ball, "said Riquelme. "I regained the hunger to win," Tevez confessed after another Olympic lap. It is clear that the vice president convinced the footballer. And more: it was he who in a soccer talk marked him that his role in the team should be defining, very close to the area and not wearing out of it. "Roman was very important and very clear in the first talk: he also helped me a lot to find that Carlitos and today is the reward. We both fought for Boca to remain great, he on his side and I on the court," he admitted You look.

#Feminine Soccer | Without mate it's not Roman 🧉! Riquelme and Cascini approached Casa Amarilla to see the Gladiator win. Will La Bombonera open if champions come out? #Boca 🆚 #Excursionistas pic.twitter.com/b0rN4Krzk0

4- Near football, away from politics

Riquelme is never missing the site of Ezeiza de Boca and from that bunker digits every day. The Soccer Council with Marcelo Delgado, Raúl Cascini and Jorge Bermúdez is its executing arm, but diagrams the pulse of the club in every detail. "Román is the great driver. He was a phenomenon as a player and he is a leader," Jorge Amor Ameal told Clarín . Managers constantly enhance it. "We have the best of all with us. That takes care of us, that works tirelessly and is in all the details," wrote Alejandro González, one of the titular vowels closest to Ten. They felt liberated with the presence of Riquelme: the CD was dedicated to developing its policies (Ameal in AFA, Digón in Superliga, Pergolini with Tapia and the rest of the CD in their area) to accommodate the club according to their gaze and He rested in Riquelme for football management. That connection and clarity in the idea worked. Román does not want to interfere with subjects he does not know, but he does want to learn. And that is why in his circle of trust he consults from how the budgets for the charter flights of the squad are decided, the choice of hotels and the development of women's football until the review of the player's contracts.

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We have the best of all with us. That takes care of us, that works tirelessly and is in every detail. Thanks for this championship friend !! I love you so much!! 💙💛💙 #IdentityXeneize #EfectoRoman #VamosBocaCarajo pic.twitter.com/PtDOKF0zfu

5- A coherent pass market

After years of assembling and disarming entire campuses, the decision of the Soccer Council was to hold the squad and retouch only in places where it was needed. With Tevez convinced to play as nine, Román went for Paolo Guerrero but stood in the negotiations when the figures went off record (his arrival cost more than 10 million dollars adding the contract). He held Villa (they were looking for him from Mexico) because he convinced him that he could explode to emigrate to another destination, and Fabra, who was thinking of leaving. Just joined Pol Fernández (old acquaintance of the club) before the departure of De Rossi and replaced Goltz with the Peruvian Zambrano. He even left the game of Mac Allister unharmed, who decided to leave the Premier League ahead of time. "There was a good squad, only that he lacked confidence," the members of the Soccer Council reviewed since they arrived. Thinking of June, if there is any sale, the equipment will be retouched according to what is needed. Will it be purchased from Junior Alonso? Are they going for a nine if Soldano leaves after his loan? With the calm of the title on his back, Roman already thinks about the next movement.

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