Marcos Rojo: "Russo told me I was too old and not good enough for Boca" | OneFootball

MARCOS ROJO is now established at Racing and played a key role in the Copa Libertadores round of 16 match in which La Academia won at the last minute against Peñarol and advanced to the quarterfinals, but he had never spoken about the reasons behind his controversial departure from Boca.

“Not even I know why I left Boca,” he said, and explained, “It all started in the match against Independiente when I felt unwell. A lot of nonsense was said, a bunch of lies. The next day I went to train and Mariano Herrón took me out. That’s where it all began. It bothered me that they blamed me for something I hadn’t done, they said I went to Paraguay for Pipa Benedetto’s birthday, nonsense… I argued with Herrón but those are football things, nothing happened, there was nothing personal.”

In an interview with ESPN, the defender continued his story: “They gave us a few days off, I came back and it was uncomfortable that people were saying I was fighting with everyone. I thought I was going to play in the Club World Cup and then I started hearing that I wasn’t going to travel. One day I ran into Riquelme and asked him if he had any problem with me. He said no, and that if he did, he’d tell me to my face, that we had trust. We ended things very well, he told me there was no problem and then Miguel Russo arrived.”

The former Argentine National Team player explained, “In the United States I trained every day until Ayrton Costa arrived and Miguel told me that I wasn’t going to play, that I wasn’t in his plans and that I’d be a substitute. What he told me was very tough, but I’ll say it: he told me I couldn’t play at that level anymore because of my age. That had never happened to me before and it made me angry, but I told him I accepted it, that it was fine, that I’d keep training and move forward.”

And he continued: “In the second match Ayrton was a bit injured and Russo asked me how I was. I told him he could count on me, I trained as if I was going to start against Bayern Munich and then I found out I was left out. I didn’t say anything, I kept training and before the match against Auckland I asked not to be in the last practice because I wasn’t 100%, I was feeling tight and thought I was going to start. That’s when Miguel got angry, we had an argument and I realized I wasn’t going to play. I told the guys from the Football Council and asked them to arrange my departure when we got back to Argentina because I wanted to keep playing.”

After stressing that “I never disrespected Miguel, nor did I shout at him,” Rojo assured, “no one ever came to my face to tell me what the problem was that I supposedly caused, I never knew and I don’t think I ever will.”

“The last time I spoke with Riquelme was at the Club World Cup, after that I never saw him again at the training ground. I couldn’t say goodbye because in the previous talks and the day I terminated my contract, he didn’t show up,” he said.

The Gago Factor

The experienced center-back admitted that while he was Boca’s coach, “Fernando Gago helped me a lot. When he arrived I wasn’t doing very well and he hit the nail on the head to motivate me and bring back my usual competitive spirit. It took a lot of effort with diet and training. I would eat at night afraid of going over by a single gram,” he concluded.

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