Ten little pearls of Boca and Banfield throughout their confrontations in four decades

One more point of contact between the clubs that face each other this Sunday: Julio César Falcioni was the coach who took both Boca and Banfield out of the championship.

On various levels, they were hectic days. On Friday the 30th, it had been announced that from that Monday the 3rd the restrictions to withdraw money from the accounts began, which went down in history as the corralito. On Saturday 1 the draw for the Korea – Japan World Cup was held and despite the fact that the Argentine team was in an excellent reality, there was a grimace of dissatisfaction because it had fallen into the group of death with Nigeria, England and Sweden. In June 2002, everything would be confirmed. On Tuesday 27, Boca had lost to Bayer Munich the final of the Intercontinental Cup and due to the local tournament, he had to receive Banfield. The emotional shock of that fall in Tokyo led him to have a weak game, which the Drill took advantage of it very well and took an important 1-0 victory. The goal was scored by Cristian Lucchetti from a penalty kick, which was his first official goal in the top flight.

The 1975 Metropolitan Championship was a huge relief for River, since it managed to be champion after 18 years. From the start he showed himself as a powerful team, a scorer and one that took a lot of advantage in the table from his pursuers. At the end of the first round, Boca was ninth and 14 points behind its traditional rival. In the development of the rematches, he experienced a spectacular streak, which added to the decline of the Millionaires, led him to place himself as guard and only three units, after winning the superclassic played at the Monumental with a goal from Osvaldo Potente. On the following day he received Banfield, who was in the last places, in a heaped candy box. The final 0-0 not only cut the long streak of victories but could never catch up with River. The main person in charge was the goalkeeper of the Taladro, a young and almost unknown Ricardo Antonio La Volpe, who had an outstanding performance and then he was hired by San Lorenzo, where he continued to excel until he became world champion with Argentina in 1978.

Ricardo La Volpe, Banfield’s goalkeeper, makes you feel the rigor of his fists. His consecration was against Boca, in a match where he kept the fence undefeated and took a fundamental point from the Ribera club. (@ ArgFutbolRetro)

The scoring story of Martin Palermo With the Boca shirt it has been populated with legends and records. One of them occurred on September 16, 2007 on the occasion of facing Banfield in the south, when he scored four goals. Three of them in the first half and the last one just started the second. It was the second and last time that the great scorer scored that amount playing with the blue and gold jersey. The previous one had been in that same year, on March 18, against Gimnasia and Esgrima La Plata in a 5-1 victory.

After spending many years in promotion football, in mid-1987, Banfield achieved a long-awaited return to the first division. Despite having a team of good players, it was difficult for him to adapt and the results were not good. On Friday, October 9, the 7th date of the 1987/88 tournament was played, the Drill was among the bottom of the table and had to receive Boca, who was not doing well either and on the previous date had had the return of Juan Carlos Lorenzo to the technical direction. It was a very remembered night, because the team from the south had a great performance, clearly winning 3-1 (goals from Andrada, Aquino and Orte) and obtaining their first victory at home. For his rival, it was the beginning of a four-game losing streak in a forgettable cycle for Toto as coach, who left office at the end of the year.

On April 28, 2002, Banfield beat Boca 1-0 at home with a goal from Walter Jiménez, in a triumph that helped him to better position himself in the tough fight of the average table, and that would have his prize at the end the season, as he managed to get away even from the promotion. But that game will be remembered for the unfair action of Santa Cruz in the brand of Juan Román Riquelme, touching his tail. On the 10th he reacted with a punch and automatically received the red from referee Fabián Madorrán. That was the first of his only three expulsions with the Xeneize jersey in 388 official games.

Santa Cruz, a Banfield player, touched Riquelme’s buttocks, who reacted with a punch. It was the first expulsion of the only three he had while wearing the Boca jacket.

The 1978 calendar must have been one of the lush in terms of number of games played for Boca Juniors. Proof of this was what happened in April, when he traveled to Mexico to face America in the final of the Inter-American Cup. The first leg had been won overwhelmingly in Buenos Aires 3-0, but fell 1-0 in the rematch. Two days later, it was the tiebreaker, again at the Azteca stadium, with a 2-1 defeat in overtime. 48 hours later he had to face Banfield in the Bombonera for the Metropolitan. There he arranged an alternative team, where Juan Carlos Lorenzo was not even on the bench (his place was occupied by Carlos Román). Little did all this matter to Drill, who thrashed 3-0 in one of the most celebrated triumphs in its history, with so many from Telli, Cerqueiro and Santillán. A curiosity of surnames in the formation of Boca: two Alves (the brothers Hugo and Abel), two Álvarez (the attackers Carlos Albero and José Luis) and two Rodríguez who were called the same: Carlos Alberto (one forward and the other goalkeeper, nicknamed the Panther, champion with Maradona in 1981)

After a 1994 year of poor results with the technical direction of César Luis Menotti, Boca renewed hopes for the following season. After 14 years the coach was once again Silvio Marzolini, absolute legend of the club and champion coach in 1981 with the shining star of Diego Armando Maradona. His official return occurred on February 24, 1995 with a 2-0 win over Banfield in the south with goals from his relentless striker Sergio Manteca Martínez. Also that night the eccentric Cameroonian striker Alphonse Tchami made his official debut in Argentine soccer, who was to remain at the institution until mid-1997 with 11 goals in 51 official matches.

In October 1995, Diego Armando Maradona returned to Boca Juniors. The team did not finish convincing on the court, but it did on the table, where it marched at the top. On Sunday, November 12, he faced Banfield, who played home on Independiente’s court and beat him 2-0 without major pressure. The positions showed him as a comfortable leader, with six units ahead of Lanús and Velez. However, that was his last victory in the tournament. Maradona received a yellow card and reached the limit, so he could not perform against Rosario Central the following week. The subsequent results were frustrating: River 0-0, Racing 4-6, Estudiantes 1-2 and Spanish 2-2. All the advantage was fading and he finished second (along with Racing), three points behind Carlos Bianchi’s champion Velez.

Banfield was not doing well in November 1996. 12 dates of the Apertura tournament had been played and he had barely won two games. He had to receive the troubled Boca directed by Carlos Salvador Bilardo, who could not transmit his knowledge to the squad. The game remained in the memory for several situations: The clear victory of the locals by 3-1 (already at half an hour it was 2-0), the ledge on which Narigón was left due to the succession of weak results (he would end up giving up three weeks later) and the debut on the Banfield fence of a young goalkeeper, who over time would consolidate as a figure in the institution and continues to this day: Cristian Lucchetti.

Cristian Luchetti made his debut at Banfield in a match against Boca de Bilardo, who fell three to one and hurried the coach’s exit due to poor results.

Sunday December 13, 2009 was eternally marked in the historical almanac of Banfield fans, because that afternoon he was consecrated for the first champion in the highest category of national football. That afternoon he faced an emotionally fallen Boca in La Bombonera who was marching below the middle of a table of positions, where the Drill led Newell’s by two points. Both title contenders had several common denominators: nerves, pressure and anxiety. And the two were defeated. The team from Rosario in their stadium against San Lorenzo led by Cholo Simeone 2-0. The same score was given on the Xenieze court with so many from Martín Palermo, but nothing mattered to the people of the south. It was the most beautiful fall in his long history, because he had the pleasure of going around the Olympics with eternal symbols such as Lucchetti, Víctor López, Erviti, James Rodríguez, Santiago Silva and the great DT: Julio Falcioni.