Claudio Úbeda on Boca exit: how he found out and Riquelme | OneFootball

After stepping down as Boca’s head coach, Claudio Úbeda gave an interview in which he spoke about how his departure came about, how it was communicated to him by Sporting Director Marcelo Delgado, and what his relationship was like with the club’s president, Juan Román Riquelme.

The former Xeneize coach opened up about the pain of leaving the position, although he admitted he understands the constant demands that come with the institution. "When you feel the final moment has come, obviously under the circumstances in which it happened, it hurts because we knew we had a lot of chances and the conditions to keep moving forward," Sifón began.

Along the same lines, he added: "But understanding that at a club as huge as Boca, which constantly needs to win, we understand how the rules of the game work and it makes sense that it would lead to a situation like this."

Claudio Úbeda is no longer Boca’s coach after the team’s elimination in the Libertadores round of 16.

Despite the bitter pill, the Sifón acknowledged that the outcome had been a real possibility. "One thing is the feeling you had of wanting to keep being part of that group, being with the players, with all the people around the Boca world, and continuing to grow as a team; yes, we wanted to continue. Then the circumstances and the final results, which maybe end up covering up a lot of good things that happened during the year, make you realize that the outcome was going to be this," he admitted in the interview he gave to La Red.

The breaking point of his spell, as the coach himself admitted, was the early elimination in the Copa Libertadores round of 16, a blow that was hard to take given the expectations. "We all understand the demands on the big teams in Argentina and around the world, and especially Boca, and we understood that not advancing was the turning point. We were coming off two losses before that one and we knew we depended heavily on that result," he explained.

However, he made a point of rejecting the word "failure" when assessing his time in charge: "For me, failing is when you don’t try. And we tried in every possible way until the end. And if we start to break down the whole year a little, especially from the moment we were with Miguel, we had an initial adaptation process."

Sifón managed the Xeneize in 34 matches.

Continuing that idea, he added: "When what happened with Miguel happened, and we ended up taking over the team, the rest of the coaching staff that remained, there was a turning point from the Lanús match onward when the team started to show itself differently, with more confidence, with more structure as a team, and it started to show good things on the field, it started to grow."

In that sense, the coach highlighted the milestones achieved during his interim spell and later confirmation: "We had 14 matches, I think, without losing, in which we won both clásicos. In the first clásico we won against River, we qualified for the Copa Libertadores, and in the current overall table the team is qualified for the next Copa Libertadores."

Even so, he understood the fans’ demands: "I understand that for Boca that alone is not enough, that Boca demands winning all the time. But for us, in an overall analysis of the whole year we were there, we have to take that into account for our own analysis, and surely the fans will too. Unfortunately, you always end up with the final picture, and it’s understandable that people don’t like it and get angry because the team didn’t win the last game, because we didn’t get through the round. It makes sense that that happens."

The coach’s words.

Claudio Úbeda and the face-to-face meeting with Marcelo Delgado

When explaining how his departure was set in motion, the coach recounted the private meeting he had with Marcelo Delgado: "With Chelo, the first thing he told me was that he wanted to meet with me to tell me things face to face, as it should be and as it has to be at a club like Boca Juniors."

"He gave me the reasons why he felt we weren’t going to continue. It was just the two of us. He was waiting for me. I arrived. He waited for me with coffee. Just by looking at his face, I already knew. We know each other very well and I knew which way things were going," he confessed.

Besides understanding the reasons, he stressed the board’s recognition: "We understood that what they were saying was real and was a bit of what we were thinking too. He also expressed their gratitude to us for the whole process we went through. Going through the process without any kind of internal conflict in the Boca world and coming out unscathed is not easy," he reflected.

The conversation with the Sporting Director.

He credited that last merit largely to the squad’s leaders. "The players also helped a lot. That has to be said. Having Leandro (Paredes) there as team captain helped a great deal. Honestly, he is an example to follow as a player because of what he transmits and because of how he wears the captain’s armband; the truth is that he does it in a very good and very noble way."

The truth about his relationship with Juan Román Riquelme

One of the constant focuses in the media debate is the board’s influence on the starting eleven. On this point, Úbeda was blunt and cleared up any kind of doubt about his relationship with the club’s president.

"We talked. Not much, but we talked. I think we talked enough. As president, of course, we talked a lot about the team, about what he saw in the team and what I saw. At no point, ever, during the year we were there, did he impose on me that one player had to play or another had to play. The decision on the players who played throughout the year was first Miguel’s, until Miguel left, and then it was mine until the last match," he said firmly.

His relationship with the president.

To close the subject, he made clear his complete autonomy throughout the process: "Naturally, many times there are football conversations with the coaching staff, with the president, with the sporting director, with Chelo. Chelo was constantly with us, but the final decisions were always ours. We talked about football; after that, the decisions were mine, about who had to play and who didn’t. On that I am fully and absolutely at peace."

Keep reading:

Claudio Úbeda debunked the idea that Riquelme picks Boca’s teams

Edinson Cavani would reportedly have decided to undergo surgery in order to play again for Boca

Claudio Úbeda’s assistant broke his silence after his departure from Boca

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