It was not the team he was coach of at the time of his death, Gymnastics, who was very close to being planted in this final, but the club of his loves, of which he was a manifest fan and whose shirt he defended as a footballer with a title included, Boca Juniors, the one who got the Diego Armando Maradona Cup, the improvised Argentine league contest renamed in this way after the death of the myth.
If there was still a sign of fate around the figure of the 'Fluff'It was surely that, that the painting of his heart raised the trophy that bears his name: in the final that defined the title at the Bicentennial stadium in San Juan, the 'xeneize' defeated Banfield in the penalty shootout after 1-1 in regulation time and thus added a new star to their record.
Forgettable game
If the final emotion, the name of the tournament and the conquest by those in “blue and gold” made up a kind of extra homage to “D10s”, the game was far from that, both the champion and his defeated.
Boca arrived shaken by the elimination, four days before, in the Libertadores semi-final rematch at the hands of the Brazilian Santos, who endorsed a painful 3-0. So deep was that defeat, and especially the form, that the coach, Miguel Russo, arranged up to seven changes in the starting lineup for this final.
(+) See the summary of the match
One of them was the entry of Colombian Cardona, something highly demanded by much of the press and fans after the fall in Brazil. And it was he who, along with his compatriot Villa, put some spark and the best intentions on offense in the framework of a team lacking in ideas and with few creative variants. In fact, a bombing by Cardona himself from the edge of the area, after a personal action from left to right, opened the scoring at 64 '.
Across the street, the young Banfield team lost much of that freshness, self-confidence and daring that led to this title match. Perhaps somewhat overwhelmed by the context, or by the fact of playing a final before an all-powerful with figures like Tevez -he entered the complement-, the 'Drill' was too cautious to go on the attack and somewhat nervous the few times that had options facing the rival goal.
Agonic draw and penalties
In that framework, after a forgettable match, when it seemed that Boca was staying with the Cup for that goal from Cardona, in the fifth minute of added time came a header from the experienced Lollo who got as if asking for permission next to a stick and sent the definition to penalties.
There the 'xeneize' were infallible, they scored the five they executed (Tevez, Villa, Salvio, Izquierdoz and Buffarini), took advantage of the one that their rival (Jorge Rodríguez) failed and celebrated in style a title that counts for the record as one national cup and not like a league, which brings them some calm in the midst of the storm, and which, finally and above all, pays tribute – one more – to the eternal myth of Argentine football.