Matías Bustos Milla
06/21/2020 - 12:19
- Clarín.com
- sports
20 years ago, at the Morumbí stadium in San Pablo, before 70 thousand souls, Boca was reunited with glory in the Copa Libertadores de América . It was in an agonizing definition, by penalties, against Palmeiras. To lift the continental trophy after 22 years. And to start a hegemony in America that lasted about a decade and that included 4 Liberators, 2 South American Cups, 3 Recopas and 2 Intercontinental . It all started on that night.
The exact moment of the title.
Jorge Bermúdez's decisive penalty against Marcos in a series in which Barros Schelotto, Riquelme and Palermo had already successfully kicked out echoed in the throats of the nearly 6 thousand souls who traveled from Argentina to see the Carlos Bianchi team despite that the prognosis was disappointing: the 2 to 2 in La Boca gave no certainty of a title, far from it. As a visitor, against the Palmeiras of Luiz Felipe Scolari, Boca did it supported by the hands of Óscar Córdoba (covered two penalties) and in all the thrust of a team hungry for glory that endured the siege of the premises in the 90 minutes to stretch the resolution.
Mouth formed before reaching glory.
In hindsight, that Bianchi team had an unusual shoot . He had been crowned in 1998 and had respected his eleven almost two years later. With a compact defense in the centrals Bermúdez and Samuel, and decisive wingers in Ibarra and Arruabarrena; with a midfield with Chicho Serna and the youth of Battaglia plus the experience of Basualdo. Above, the historical trident: Riquelme, Guillermo and Palermo. But he was also a champion who adapted and found solutions on the bench with Traverso, Delgado, Marchant, Navas, Gustavo Barros Schelotto, Barijho and even Alfredo Moreno.
It is that the Viceroy's hand had to appear to patch up at decisive moments a team that likewise built its epic on foreign soil. A detail that marked the pulse and relevance of the coach in that team: in a final, as a visitor, he did not make any changes.
Bianchi at the helm of the 2000 Cup. Photo: (AFP PHOTO / Antonio SCORZA
Boca had left the group stage behind with Peñarol, Blooming and Universidad Católica. In the eighths he endured at the height of Quito with El Nacional and resolved it in the Bombonera. In the quarterfinals came the historic cross against River, which included pieces to remember with goals from Riquelme, the spout to Yepes and the goal of Palermo's return. But the tournament continued. And after a local win, with Walter Samuel's header against América from Mexico in Mexico City for a very hard-fought game, Boca got into that long-awaited final.
Córdoba was left with two penalties that night. (Photo: AFP PHOTO / VanderleiALMEIDA
The night of June 21 he found Córdoba; Ibarra, Bermúdez, Samuel, Arruabarrena; Basualdo, Serna, Traverso; Riquelme; Guillermo and Palermo. The eleven that jumped onto the court was the best that Bianchi could have at his disposal although the Cup had shown him with versatility in the surnames. The only ones who played the 14 games were Córdoba, Samuel and Bermúdez.
Five thousand Boca fans traveled to Brazil that night.
With Diego Maradona watching the game and participating in a historic television broadcast, that Boca full of surnames that had already conquered Argentina's football stomped on in Brazil. It was the beginning of a cycle that in that same year would bring Real Madrid to its knees and that in 2001 would raise the Copa Libertadores again to become two-time champion of America. A milestone that since then nobody could repeat.
