Fernando Gago is the chosen one of Juan Román Riquelme to make up for the loss of Diego Martínez on the substitute bench and, waiting for news from Mexico, since now the current coach of Chivas de Guadalajara will have to leave his current team, it is valid to review the football history that united both protagonist in Boca Juniors and the Argentine national team.
Gago, category 1986 who made all the lower ones in the Ribera entity, lived the golden stage of the Xeneize at the dawn of 2000 on the field. As? At that time he was 14 years old, he stood out as a central midfielder in his division and he had the pleasure of giving balls to Román and company. Fernando absorbed firsthand what good football was and regretted Riquelme’s departure to Barcelona in 2002 since one of his desires was to cover his back on the field.
In 2004, Gago was promoted to the professional team at just 16 years old by Bianchi. At the end of that year he made his professional debut and exhibited credentials of what was to come in the Xeneize: galley and staff. He slowly took over the position and by 2006 he was catapulted to the real Madridjust after Boca lost the tournament in the tiebreaker against Estudiantes de La Plata with Ricardo La Volpe as coach and on the eve of Riquelme’s return to Argentine football.
Gago became the most expensive sale in Boca’s history: he was transferred for approximately 28 million dollars to Madrid. But fate once again took him away from Román, who at the beginning of 2007 cut his ties with Villarreal after differences with Ingeniero Pellegrini and signed in Boca to lead Miguel Ángel Russo’s team in football in the institution’s last Copa Libertadores.
Paradoxically, they met in a locker room for the first time in the Argentine team. He Coconut Basilepredecessor of Diego Maradona, began to regularly summon Pintita and I already had Román as number 10. It was the Checho Batista who made them explode along with Lionel Messi and Ángel Di María in the Beijing 2008 Olympic Gameswhere they climbed to the top of the podium and won the gold medal. His cycle in Albiceleste It would be cut abruptly: Gago’s was interrupted because it was cut by Diego prior to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa; Riquelme’s would be final after his resignation due to disagreements with Maradona.
“We all know what kind of player Román is. I got to be a ball catcher and watch him play. It will be very nice to share a court with him again. And more so on the Boca field, with this shirt, being able to try to do something that is positive for the club. I think we understand the same football, we have the same idea and way of playing“, was what Gago declared in mid-2013, when he signed as a Boca reinforcement after a long career in Europe (Real Madrid, Rome and Valencia), plus a loan at Vélez Sársfield.
Bianchi, Boca’s coach at that time, contributed to the chance of being able to include them together on the field: “Román together with Fernando can be a good power plant, a good football factory”.
That season would be Riquelme’s last at the institution. His departure occurred after the end of his contract in mid-2014, after the marked dispute over the renewal with president Daniel Angelici, before landing for six months at Argentinos Juniors and returning him to Primera. For his part, Gago stayed longer in Boca and won four local titles (three leagues and an Argentine Cup). The epilogue of his career was marked by a series of seriously serious injuries that sidelined him even from the 2018 World Cup in Russia. After signing a contract for productivity in Vélez in 2019, he retired at just 34 years old.
“Having Román makes it easier for you to have a player always well positioned to receive the ball. Or that with one touch it will simplify the marking of three rivals. He is a player who makes a difference, personally I felt very good, very comfortable with him,” Gago said during that year of coexistence and football.
The paths of life led them to stay in football, although from another function on the outside. Riquelme leaned towards politics. Gago trained as a coach. Román was key for Jorge Ameal to win the elections in Boca at the end of 2019, while Gago debuted as coach in Aldosivi de Mar del Plata in 2021.
In less than a year, Gago and Riquelme They crossed paths in different meetings between Racing (the other Argentine team that Pintita coached) and Boca. The current Chivas coach won the two finals against his former club (2022 Champions Trophy and 2023 International Super Cup), but he kissed the canvas in the quarterfinals of the 2023 Libertadores. In the middle of those competitions, both hugged in the tribute match to Román in the Bombonera itself, where number 5 wore the light blue and white shirt.
“He is a person with whom I shared many years, he is the greatest idol of this club. He gave a lot to the history of Boca and that is very important. He is a player who gave us a lot of attention and filled our eyes with the Argentine footballer. That is something that will always remain in the memory.”was the last public expression that Gago made about Riquelme in the locker room of the Alberto J. Armando stadium, before representing the National Team in the farewell match on the 10th.
Since his appearance as a coach, the former midfielder who is only 38 years old has always been praised by Riquelme who knows that he needs to take a step forward so that his Boca can qualify for Libertadores 2025, a primary objective for the remainder of the year. Now, the paths could join again, but no longer as a ball catcher or soccer player, but as a coach and president.