Falcioni’s revelations about his time at Boca: the reasons for his fight with Riquelme and the two moments in which he threatened to resign

Julius Caesar Falcioni He left a mark in his time as coach of Boca Juniors during the years 2011 and 2012. The experienced DT won two titles (Apertura 2011 and Copa Argentina 2012) and reached the final of the Libertadores. However, the cycle of him in the xeneize He is also remembered for his troubled relationship with Juan roman riquelmewho retired from football after losing the Cup final to Corinthians in São Paulo.

“What I kept from that final with Corinthians is that we lost it before playing it. I was sure that we would beat that team. As we were coming, I was sure. There were many things in the preview, many players felt touched (by the news that Riquelme was leaving football). I noticed it at the hotel. Someone was crying because Riquelme was retiring and I told them that they had to cry because perhaps they weren’t going to play a Libertadores final anymore. And he didn’t really play it anymore”, was the sentence of the Emperorwhich a short time ago too I had referred to this situation.

That Libertadores saw Boca debut in Venezuela against Zamora with a goalless draw that produced short circuits in the locker room: “I have a fantastic relationship with Darío (Cvitanich), but that day I farted because I sent him to play on one side and from inside the field they sent him to play for another. So I told him come, sit here with me. I took it out. The plane back was tremendous, I was infatuated because things were not clear. I wanted to quit on the plane, I wanted to go to hell. Angelici stopped me.” Although he did not affirm it, he slipped that it was Riquelme who was giving instructions to his partner that were contrary to his own.

The 66-year-old strategist shared other memories of that competition: “We won the group with an early date and reached the final. If we had arrived without Riquelme? I don’t know, it could be. We eliminated the U de Chile de Sampaoli and Flamengo in Rio. We came from being undefeated champions and then we were champions of the Copa Argentina. After losing the final of the Libertadores, I told Daniel Angelici that I would resign if it was the solution to everything. ‘No way,’ he told me. Then he didn’t renew my contract, but I don’t think he changed his mind”.

“Riquelme won many games, but I wasn’t so lucky with him. I don’t want to confront him. That Cup did not play it all. AND of the championship that we won, he played 6 or 7 games out of the 19 because he was injured. He entered 10 or 15 minutes from the last game when we were champions ”, he attacked again JCFwho reviewed that there were other injured such as Lucas Viatri, that the scorer was Cvitanich and Riquelme’s replacement was Cristian Few Chavez.

Later he clarified that the dialogues he had with other players such as Walter Erviti and Santiago Silva, as with Riquelme, were strictly professional: “I was never friends with any of them. With many players I had differences. They mention Riquelme to me because it’s him. I had differences in criteria and work formats. The first day I say that if they don’t work five days a week, they can’t play on Sunday. There are players out there who believe they are the base of the team. And it is not that they are not going to train, it is that they are not training, that they are going to be on a stretcher. I’m not saying it for him but for anyone.”

Another of the conclusions he drew was: “Having concessions with those players sometimes makes you lose authority because you have 30 more watching. With few exceptions, in our football today you don’t have players who can win the match alone. I value if Valderrama, Gallardo or Riquelme leave you four times hand in hand with the goalkeeper at 9, but I did not have that luck”.

Finally, Falcioni told how his relationship with Angelici was and explained why he had to leave the institution: “I had arrived with Ameal and then Angelici came. Maybe he was coming with another technician, but I went to his office and told him to do what he wanted. We had come out undefeated champions. I went at 11 in the morning and we talked for 7 or 8 hours. We ate, we talked and we began to have a great round trip ”. And he deepened: “(At the end of 2012) Bianchi wanted to direct again and I couldn’t compete with him. If Bianchi wanted to lead, where was he going to go? Boca. That is the truth of history.”

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