Seeing the images of Juan Román Riquelme dragged by a mob on the day of the elections for the presidency of Boca Juniors, on December 17, which he won by a landslide with 30,318 votes, it is difficult to recognize the playmaker who had a brief time in the club. Camp Nou the 2002-03 season. The melancholic air that accompanied him was not what Barça needed, which a year later was shaken and lifted by Ronaldinho's smile, although the Argentine showed his rebellion against authority when he held off Van Gaal, who wanted to heel him. on the left.
But the charisma of Riquelme (VI/24/1978) is very different in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of La Boca. There it is a star, a piece of the shield, a myth, an institution. There he finds the strength to stop being shy, to express himself freely and confront whoever he is. Only in this way can the triumph of his candidacy over the economic and political power of the country be understood.
“In a crude reading it can be said that it is the success of the football people against the business people,” analyzes Ezequiel Fernández Moores, journalist for La Nación. He says this because his rival in the elections was Andrés Ibarra (he received 15,949 votes), who had Mauricio Macri as vice president on the electoral ticket.
“Rarely has a clash of social and class models been so clear. His rivals were of golden birth. Ibarra, who was Minister of Modernization in the Macri government, is a member of the Jockey Club, a stronghold of the aristocracy,” the journalist reveals.
Not even Macri, former president of Argentina between 2015 and 2019 and before that for twelve years at the head of Boca, can overshadow the figure of Román in a neighborhood and a club that boast of their popular origin.
Even the current leader of the country, Javier Milei, had to bow to the influence of the former soccer player. The histrionic politician supported Ibarra and Macri's project but not even a month after arriving at the Casa Rosada the citizens turned their backs on him and he was even booed when he went to vote at La Bombonera. Macri, knowing the polls and sensing defeat, didn't even come close.
“Riquelme has known how to play the card of identity, belonging and that bostero feeling that turns grievance into vindication,” explains Fernández Moores, who recalls that the nickname bostero, which comes from dung, the horse's excrement, Now it is displayed by fans with pride.
“The fan can choose between continuing to be a club owned by the members or having your heart ripped out,” said Román, who was already vice president of the previous president, Jorge Amor Ameal, during the campaign – now the roles have been exchanged. A campaign that became eternal because in the last three months several court rulings were interpreted as an orchestrated operation against Riquelme.
The last was to change the date of the elections, initially scheduled for Saturday, December 2. “A group of Jewish associates claimed that it coincided with the Sabbath. It was later discovered that three were fakes and three others did not disagree with the date. All this dripping aroused indignation among the Boca people and started a campaign of sympathy among the fans of other clubs. “The networks were filled with people doing the Topo Gigio”, the celebration with their hands over their ears typical of the soccer player Riquelme.
It must also be added that the club is healthy and that there is no need for any rescue by technocrats, since "the management of Ameal and Riquelme presented accounts with 28 million dollars in favor," Fernández reminds this newspaper. Moores.
For this reason, the speech of fear that an exasperated Macri tried to instill did not work either. “Riquelme will be the Passarella of Boca,” he launched, remembering that with the former player of the president, River Plate went down to Second.
In the last term, Boca Juniors won six titles but none this year where they reached the final of the Libertadores but lost it against Fluminense. For the next season he did not qualify for the Cup. “He has not played well. That is the great deficit of Riquelme, Boca's most exquisite player. The club was always more claw and egg. But it was thought that with Román that would change and that has not been the case neither with Russo on the bench, nor with Battaglia nor Almirón,” concludes Fernández Moores. For this reason, the new president has already chosen a new coach: Diego Martínez, who led Huracán.
One of the most iconic plays by Riquelme, who played 14 of his 19 seasons as a professional for the Xeneize club – two stages – is the tunnel to River Plate defender Yepes. He stuck to the sideline and with his back turned he stepped on the ball and with his heel he hit it under his legs. Boca won that 2000 Copa Libertadores match 3-0. A month later, the team, led by its ten, won the title and then beat Madrid in the Intercontinental.
23 years later, Román has once again challenged the elites and emerged victorious. “To have power is for people to love you,” Riquelme summarized his victory that makes him the first former soccer player to preside over the club since 1947.
