Barinaga’s heartfelt chat with Russo changed his Boca future | OneFootball

Juan Barinaga’s current situation at Boca couldn’t be better: he went from being the third option to securing the position and becoming an undisputed starter. He owes this footballing moment, in part, to Miguel Ángel Russo. This was revealed by the former Belgrano player in an interview where he shared details of their conversations, including one in particular that changed everything for him.

As the squad prepares for the round of 16 of the Torneo Clausura, the full-back gave an interview on El Canal de Boca. There, he spoke about his talks with the coach who was with him for a short period, but for whom he developed “tremendous respect” because of his approach.

“On the first day, the first practice with him, I called him over to talk because I hadn’t been getting any minutes, I wasn’t being considered. I told him that I was in a situation where I was training, I was doing very well, but I wasn’t getting any opportunities,” he began, referring to Miguel Russo’s arrival at Boca.

Barinaga is enjoying a great moment at Boca.

In the same vein, Juan Barinaga added that he told the coach: “if you don’t need me, help me leave or give me a chance if there’s one” and he said: ‘Don’t worry, I know you from Belgrano.’ I’m very good friends with his son, Nacho, but I didn’t even mention it because it wasn’t relevant, and he said ‘you’re friends with Nacho, I know you from ADIUR,’ which is where we played in Rosario.”

He also added: “I told him, ‘Well, what do you recommend I do? Or give me some advice because honestly, I can’t see a way forward.’ And he said: ‘Relax, because I know your qualities and you need to improve on this, this, and this. When you improve those things, I’ll put you in and give you a chance.’ And well, in the Club World Cup I didn’t play at all, and when we came back, he started giving me minutes. We watched videos and he’d say, ‘You’re improving on this.’”

Barinaga earned his spot as a starter in the Xeneize team.

“Honestly, for a football player, having someone speak to you sincerely is rare, and for them to say it to your face, looking you in the eye: ‘You’re not doing this well, if you improve it, you’ll play,’ and then when you do improve, they give you the opportunity… That’s when I really gained tremendous respect for him,” he concluded.

Juan Barinaga’s Great Moment at Boca

There’s no doubt that Russo was decisive in helping the former Belgrano player make a dramatic change during his time at the club. He went from being the third option in the position to making it his own. Today, he is the starting right-back, pushing Luis Advíncula and Lucas Blondel to the bench.

Úbeda found his right-back.

In the current championship, he is one of the players with the most minutes played (he has accumulated 1236). Out of 16 possible matches, he played 14. In addition, he has 2 assists so far in the Clausura and a pass accuracy of 76%.

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This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.