Fans gather at La Bombonera to honour late Boca Juniors coach
\n ARGENTINA
\nArgentine football fans queued up Thursday to pay their respects to one of the national game\u2019s greats, Boca Juniors deceased manager Miguel Angel Russo, at an emotional stadium send-off in Buenos Aires.
\nFrom the early hours of Thursday, long lines of supporters began filing past the coffin of the award-winning coach in the chapel of the club\u2019s legendary Bombonera stadium.
\nThe former international, who coached Boca Juniors three times and also had successful stints at Rosario Central and Estudiantes de la Plata, died Wednesday at the age of 69.
\nThe club never gave details of his health, but Argentine media reported that Russo, who was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2017 and whose health had deteriorated in recent weeks, had contracted an infection.
\nIn June, he had agreed to coach Boca Juniors for a third time but had been absent from the sidelines since September 21.
\nHis coffin was draped Thursday in the flags of both Boca and Estudiantes, the club where he spent his entire playing career.
\n\u201cMiguel gave his all for Boca, just like me,\u201d said 34-year-old Pasallo, who had the Boca crest tattooed on his right arm, alongside the phrase \u201cfrom the cradle to the grave.\u201d
\n\u201cWe\u2019re going to say goodbye like Boca fans do: with a party!\u201d said the street vendor, who was dressed from head to toe in the club\u2019s blue and yellow.
\nThe mood at the stadium was more reflective than festive, however.
\n\u201cForever in our hearts,\u201d read a Boca Juniors banner featuring Russo\u2019s image, which hung in the stadium.
\nRusso was a coach for more than half his life and was talked up at one point as a potential manager for the national side after long stints with Boca Juniors, Rosario Central and Estudiantes de la Plata.
\n\u2018Returned us to glory\u2019
\nHis trophy cabinet was not extensive, but he had a knack for reviving the fortunes of top teams.
\nLuis Conrado, a 67-year-old bricklayer, came to pay his respects from the town of Lanus, on the southern outskirts of Buenos Aires, where Russo made his coaching debut.
\nAt Lanus, \u201che found us in the B division, rescued us, and returned us to glory. I\u2019m here to thank him for that joy,\u201d Conrado said.
\nRusso\u2019s first first-division title came with Velez Sarsfield in 2005.
\nLater, at Diego Maradona\u2019s request, he was called on to manage Maradona\u2019s boyhood club Boca Juniors, which he led to victory in the 2007 Copa Libertadores, his greatest achievement as a manager.
\nHe also twice saved Rosario Central, with whom he won the League Cup in December 2023, from relegation and in 2017 led Colombian side Millonarios to a championship title one day after undergoing chemotherapy for cancer.
\nAt Estudiantes, where he played from 1975 to 1988, he formed part of one of the most memorable midfields in Argentine football, along with Alejandro Sabella, Marcelo Trobbiani, and Jose Daniel \u201cBocha\u201d Ponce.
\nHe made the national team but, much to his disappointment, was not selected for the 1986 World Cup, which Argentina won.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Fans gather at La Bombonera to honour late Boca Juniors coach ARGENTINA Argentine football fans queued up Thursday to pay their respects to one of the national game\u2019s greats, Boca Juniors deceased manager Miguel Angel Russo, at an emotional stadium send-off in Buenos Aires. From the early hours of Thursday, long lines of supporters began […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":507982,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-507968","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n