There is a place in Buenos Aires where Messi and his star do not exist, a place where iconography is reserved for Maradona and Riquelme, the true idols of La Boca and Boca Juniors neighborhood.
The last rival that set foot on La Bombonera was the modest Central Córdoba, a team from the province of Santiago del Estero with little history in the highest category of Argentine soccer. But that doesn’t matter. The paraphernalia is the usual, brass bands and drums in the streets that give access to the stadium, regardless of the fact that one of the trays at the north end is closed for security reasons. A crack prevents public access, but that doesn’t stop the party.
For more than two hours before the start of the match, the Boqueño fans warmed up the atmosphere as if it were the World Cup final. Because his World Cup is played every weekwhenever there is a Boca game.
Why if the albiceleste is the pride of Argentina, Boca is the pride of La Boca, the symbol of its identity. A neighborhood team that has been able to conquer the world. A real redoubt now that even Caminito street has been converted into a theme park.
Each town, each street has its band with ramifications from Boca in which the preview is staged with its banners and its reproductions of the most outstanding trophies in the history of the auriazul club. Between choripans and minis of beer, fans adore the Libertadores and the Intercontinental.
And presiding over everything, always, an image of Diego Maradona. Dressed in the Boca shirt, sometimes with the golden band that he dyed in his hair in his last stage at the club, after his sanctions for doping.
Maradona erases Messi from the La Boca neighborhood. In the rest of the country, Leo dares to compete after winning the World Cup, but in the neighborhood Diego’s only squire is Juan Román Riquelme, a figure before and now vice president of the entity.
Inside La Bombonera, Boca is the only feeling. A united cry that is born from the bottom that occupies the Twelve and that increases every time a ball approaches the goal. Although it is not much. So, it’s the whole stadium that comes together to multiply the decibels. All to one with Mouth. The only place where Messi does not exist.
