The behind the scenes of Alan Varela’s goal that remained in the history of Boca Juniors: the three shots that anticipated it

Boca Juniors more than fulfilled its objective in the last game of the group stage of the Liberators cup. In the Bombonera, not only beat Deportivo Cali as it should, but qualified for the round of 16 as a pointer, as Corinthians tied at home against Always Ready and advanced in second place. The coffee cast will have the consolation prize of playing in the round of 16 of the Copa Sudamericana for finishing third, while the Bolivian team finished last in Group E and was eliminated from all international competition.

The only goal of the game was scored by Alan Varela, at 9 minutes of complement. It was not a bit more, since it meant the first in his career in the First Division. The native of Isidro Casanova had scored the decisive goal in the series on penalties against Racing Club, for the semifinals of the League Cup played at the Lanús stadium. Boca Juniors would end up lifting the trophy last Sunday, by beating Tigre in the final played at the Mario Alberto Kempes stadium.

Besides of the importance of scoring the winning goal that gave him the long-awaited classification and of being the first of his career in the first division, Alan Varela entered history for having converted the institution’s 8,000th goal. This was confirmed by the Ribera club on their social media accounts. Before converting it, the 20-year-old footballer had warned with three powerful shots that almost were not goals.

“Yes, the truth is that we went looking for him the whole game and we deserved to win. Thank God I got the goal”he acknowledged. “We were calm, we knew the goal was going to come and thanks to God it was given to us”, continued Alan Varela, who highlighted the fact of having reached the round of 16 as leaders in his group. “This group deserves it. Did the team show up? We’ve been improving, we’re fine.” he concluded in dialogue with ESPN.

Later, Alan Varela expanded on his concepts at the press conference. “A lot of things went through my head. I thank the coaching staff and teammates for trusting me. I try to do my best, get the best out of myself to help the team”. On whether he feels like the owner of the midfield, he added: “I keep working, I’m calm and I know that my teammates and the coaching staff trust me. I will continue working to be able to achieve something”.

Before saying goodbye, the native of Isidro Casanova told what it meant for him to have scored the 8,000th goal in the history of Boca Juniors: “A huge emotion, a great satisfaction. Also for converting my first goal in first and helping the team to get the pass to the round of 16 which was the big goal for us. I’m very happy about that.”

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