Riquelme and Palermo, the story of the perfect society that left rivalry behind and meets again at La Bombonera

On Sunday, when his team,

, faces

for the fourth date of the

,

will return to La

for an official match after nine years.

Although he has already occupied the visiting bench twice as coach (with Godoy Cruz in December 2012 and with Arsenal in April 2014), it will be the first time that he will do so during the management of Jorge Amor Ameal.

And

, his former perfect partner and also a nemesis in his soccer days, with whom in recent years he was able to rebuild a bond that had been shattered.

“Palermo will be received as it deserves.

He is one of Boca's biggest idols.

I was lucky to play with him, he has made me enjoy a lot and he has given me joy

.

On Sunday, without a doubt, he will enjoy going back to his house, because La Bombonera is his house, ”Riquelme warned on Thursday.

It was a formal response from the institution's vice president, but it also showed that the hostility of yesteryear no longer exists between the two.

The tirria was never a secret and the protagonists themselves recognized it.

“We didn't have the best relationship, but

because there was a priority above all, which was Boca.

We were always looking to win.

If we had lost, the media would have said it was because Palermo and Riquelme were estranged," the former striker said last October.

Riquelme greets Palermo, then Godoy Cruz's coach, before the start of a match between Tomba and Boca in Mendoza in June 2013. Photo: Delfo Rodríguez

The differences did not prevent them from forming

during the seven and a half years in which they shared a squad in Boca that gave the club four local titles (the Apertura tournaments in 1998, 2000 and 2008, and the Clausura in 1999) and four international ones ( the Copa Libertadores of 2000 and 2007, the Intercontinental of 2000 and the Recopa Sudamericana of 2008).

During the first three and a half years, since the Titan arrived from Estudiantes de La Plata in mid-1997 (Riquelme had made his debut on November 10, 1996 in a 2-0 victory over Unión) until he left for Villarreal in January 2001 The link was

, hand in hand with the sporting successes and the management of the group by

, the great creator of that multi-champion team.

At that time, they were also teammates in the Argentine national team led by

.

At the time of finding the breaking point, many pointed to the

final against Real Madrid in Tokyo.

Legend has it that two days before that match, Palermo asked Bianchi to include

in the team and not

as his attack partner, something that would have annoyed Riquelme, Chelo's historical sidekick.

In that match, Delgado played from the start and provided the assist for the first of the striker's two goals (the other was by Román).

The Boca team that defeated Real Madrid in Tokyo, led by Riquelme and Palermo.

Photo: Clarín Archive.

However, some members of that campus denied that version.

last year

, who also pointed out that although there were "distances" between some players, that had not broken the group.

“I concentrated with Román and played pool and cards every day with Guillermo (Barros Schelotto) and Martín.

Sometimes we had a collaborator who brought us food because we got hungry at night and they all came to eat in the room, ”he exemplified.

recalled something similar

, who did not get to play that Intercontinental final (he had been sold to Villarreal in mid-2000), but he had been a mainstay in that cycle.

“When I left, there was no problem.

Later I found out that they said that there was a difference when the final was played against Real Madrid, but it was not like that.

.

I saw that there was a relationship and they talked to each other constantly, ”he recounted in March 2020.

The two idols were separated for six years, although they crossed paths on some playing fields while playing in Spain and even Riquelme, when he arrived at Villarreal in 2003, rented the house that belonged to Palermo, who had been loaned by the Yellow

to Betis.

They had a brief and fruitful reunion in the first half of

, when the down payment was loaned out by the Valencian Community club and was a key element in obtaining the Copa Libertadores that year.

And they joined their paths again when 10 returned for good at the beginning of 2008.

Together, Palermo and Riquelme won eight titles in Boca.

Photo: Clarín Archive.

By then, the bond was already extremely deteriorated.

Rodolfo Arruabarrena told it, who recalled his return to the country that year, after eight seasons in Spain and Greece: "I wanted to organize a barbecue with former colleagues,

because there was no harmony between them.

Also Uruguayan Álvaro González, who recalled his first days at the club: "I entered a difficult dressing room, with people who didn't even say 'good morning' to each other".

In that squad there were two very different factions: the one that was referenced in Palermo and that brought together a good part of the most experienced men (Sebastián Battaglia, Rodrigo Palacio, Claudio Morel Rodríguez, Mauricio Caranta, Leandro Gracián) and the one that aligned with Riquelme, with Hugo Ibarra at the helm and some of the youngsters who were taking their first steps in the senior team (Javier García, Lucas Viatri).

In October 2008, that latent conflict broke out.

First Caranta expressed his annoyance to

, then DT of the team, and ended up separated from the squad.

Just a few hours later, Paraguayan Julio César Cáceres, who was in his country to play a match for the 2010 South Africa Qualifiers, blew up the bomb.

Riquelme and Palermo together with Lucas Castromán during Boca's preseason in January 2008 in Tandil.

Photo: Jorge Sanchez.

“Riquelme is a complicated person and some colleagues get annoyed by his attitudes.

In some games he appears to run.

.

If one is not well, he should step aside.

The difference between Riquelme and Palermo is that Martín is 34 years old and does the pre-season alongside a 17-year-old boy, he never pouts.

He can be the leader of the group”, shot the central marker.

Román's response, volleyed, took just a while to arrive: “It's strange, this guy jogs next to me, eats at my table, he seems nice to me.

Let a teammate do what he did...

.

He just wants to cause more trouble in our locker room."

There was no shortage of those who believed, including the 10th, that Cáceres's words were a poisoned dart that he had left from the Palermo barracks.

Since then, they have been

on the pitch and

off it.

That gap was evident on April 12, 2010, when Boca defeated Arsenal 4-0 for the 14th date of the Clausura Tournament.

That day, 10 minutes into the first half, Riquelme, from an unbeatable position to define, preferred to assist Palermo, who opened the scoring and thus reached his 219th goal with the blue and gold jersey, surpassing the mark that had belonged since 1938 Roberto Cherro (218) and became the top scorer in the club's history.

“When I score a goal, I try to hug the person who gave me the pass and the other teammates.

I know what was seen and I know what happened.

But I don't have to go out and say anything about that topic.

.

Let everyone draw their own conclusions”, Palermo said after the game.

Roman opted for silence.

They continued like this until Palermo withdrew in June 2011. Eight months later, on February 4, 2012, they had their farewell match.

In the Bombonera were Bianchi and a good part of the multi-champion Boca emblems: Arruabarrena, Ibarra, Guillermo and Gustavo Barros Schelotto, Carlos Tevez, Diego Cagna, Jorge Bermúdez, Mauricio Serna, Óscar Córdoba, Roberto Abbondanzieri, Rolando Schiavi and Clemente Rodríguez.

Riquelme?

No.

Three years later, they would share the lawn at Sebastián Battaglia's farewell.

Palermo and Riquelme greet each other during Sebastián Battaglia's farewell party in July 2015. Photo: Juano Tesone.

Beyond the tensions, the two always recognized the other's sporting merits.

"Palermo was the best 9 of the last 20 or 30 years of Argentine soccer," praised him in 2017 by Román, who placed him above who would be the winner of the Ballon d'Or in 2022: "(Karim) Benzema is a technically incredible player , but there are more times that he misses the goal than those that go to the goal.

”.

Weeks later, the striker picked up the glove: “

.

If Román had set his mind to it, he would have been one of the great players in Europe.

What he achieved in Villarreal could have been repeated in Barcelona or wherever he wanted ”.

The passing of the years

and allowed a rapprochement.

Although no one can consider them friends, they have developed a bond of respect.

This allowed, for example, Palermo to pick up the phone and communicate with Riquelme in January of last year, when he directed Aldosivi, to ask him for the transfer of some youth players (the goalkeeper from Tucuman Agustín Lastra and the defender from Junín Nicolás Valentini were finally loaned). .

And that he repeat the procedure this summer to bring striker Maximiliano Zalazar to Platense.

Even the

, led by Riquelme, considered the name of Palermo in July of last year, when it was looking for a replacement for Sebastián Battaglia and before opting for the continuity of Hugo Ibarra.

No one rules out that the Titan could be Boca's coach sooner rather than later.

For now, this afternoon he will return to the visitor's bench at La Bombonera, where a great reception is expected from the leadership and the fans.

Surely from his box, a few meters above the former striker's head, Román will observe him.

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