For Boca Fans, Riquelme Can’t Return Soon Enough

Juan Roman Riquelme: almost back

“Somos la mitad más uno…” (we’re half plus one) is the first line of a popular chant in the stands of La Bombonera, a reference to a rather old survey that indicated more than half of all Argentines are Boca Juniors fans.

The most popular club in the country gets more than its fair share of the headlines, and lately most of it is bad news.

Following a disastrous 16th place finish in the Clausura earlier this year, club directors quickly signed Claudio “El Bichi” Borghi to manage the club, fresh off his title-winning campaign with Argentinos Juniors.

However, Borghi has yet to settle into the hottest seat in Argentine club soccer: Los Xeneizes have racked up five losses and are currently wallowing in 14th place at the midpoint of the Apertura season. The pressure nearly led Borghi to resign on Monday, though he elected to stay on a bit longer, but the danger looms for his club: Boca faces the real possibility of failing to qualify for their second Copa Libertadores in a row.

Smack dab in the middle of this mess is Juan Román Riquelme, Boca’s best and most expensive player, who hasn’t seen the pitch since May due to a knee injury that required surgery. He took advantage of his downtime over the winter to play protagonist in one of the most annoying contract negotiation sagas ever. He considered and eventually rejected an offer from West Ham, choosing to stay put and sign with the club for another four years, but only after feuding with club directors over money for weeks.

El Topo Gigio finally got his medical clearance on Monday and was playing well in today’s practice, but it’s not clear yet when he will return to the starting lineup. Borghi has stated that he doesn’t want to put too much pressure on his star if his return doesn’t immediately bring about better results. Whether Riquelme returns Sunday against Tigre or not, Borghi will watch the game from the stands after seeing red in Boca’s loss to Lanús.