Boca lost to Racing in one of the semi-finals of the Clausura tournament. The Academy won 1-0 at the Bombonera thanks to the goal of Adrián Martínez, and one of the most surprising images that remained in the fall of Xeneize was the decision of Claudio Úbeda. The coach only made the first change at 26 of the second half of the season: Exequiel Zeballos left to make way for Alan Velasco. This variant caused a reaction from people who didn’t understand the modification. Aside from that: Another surprised person seemed to be Leandro Paredes. After the visitors’ goal, the Xeneize coach made no changes until the sixth minute of added time.
The winger was in a duel that had few clear situations for both teams Ezequiel Zeballos was one of the late night characters of La Bombonera. However, 26 minutes into the second half. Úbeda made the decision to remove him. The official broadcast cameras showed the moment the attacker left the pitch the reactions of the Boca fans. Some touched their heads, others looked at those closest to them in disbelief, and there were also those who signed off with some sort of insult. It should be recalled that Velasco had not played for almost two months due to injury: he had played his last game on October 10 against Newell’s.
Another image that emerged at the time was that of Leandro Paredes. The Boca captain waved his arms and shouted towards the Xeneize bench, as if asking for explanations about this variant clear sign of disagreement. It was a positional change to maintain the 4-4-2 pattern. Instead of Zeballos, Alan Velasco moved in as left midfielder, a footballer on whom the Xeneize management spent $10 million and who has so far failed to live up to expectations. Both have similar characteristics, with dribbling and imbalances, but Zeballos is going through a great time and had already shown signs of being able to lose balance.
Shortly afterwards, at 30, Racing’s goal came. The minutes passed, the players led by Úbeda did not create any danger in the opponent’s area and the coach continued without making any changes. He was seen at one point in the second part Edinson Cavani, who was among the substitutes, left the warm-up session. The Uruguayan went up to his coach, said something to him and didn’t warm up again.
Referee Darío Herrera had added six minutes, but due to some delays he decided to give two more minutes. When the stopwatch showed these 51 minutes, Úbeda was making the second and final change in the semi-final: Rodrigo Battaglia came in for Milton Delgado, a clear example of having more height to scan the racing area with crosses.
The game ended with Racing winning 1-0 and a place in next Saturday’s final at the Madre de Ciudades Stadium in Santiago del Estero. Their rival will emerge from the winner of the La Plata Classic that Gimnasia and Estudiantes will play this Monday in El Bosque from 5 p.m. The Boca fans left the Bombonera looking for explanations for the defeat and also wondering Why the coach didn’t look for other options to at least equalize the game.
When the game was over, it was time for questions to the journalists and Gustavo Costas was asked if Zeballos’ departure would benefit Racing’s game: “I won’t get involved in Boca’s changes,” the academy manager replied.
This season is not the first time that something similar with changes has happened in Boca. On September 21, Boca hosted Santiago del Estero’s Central Córdoba stadium, in the last game that Miguel Ángel Russo coached before his death. Xeneize won 2-0 with goals from Battaglia (41 in the first half) and Merentiel (11 in the second half).
Six minutes later the visitors reached stoppage time. At 29, the local made the first and only change: Alan Velasco replaced Brian Aguirre. But at 38, Ferroviario equalized a 2-2 draw. When Russo was asked about that single change at the press conference, he took responsibility: “Making a single change was my decision. I take responsibility for everything,” he said.
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