Miguel Ángel Russo has died | OneFootball

Miguel Ángel Russo Passed Away. The Boca coach died at the age of 69 this Wednesday, around 7 PM, at his home in the Federal Capital, surrounded by family and loved ones.

Despite his unwavering fight to move forward and continue with his work, his health had deteriorated recently due to the progression of cancer that was diagnosed in 2017 when he was leading Millonarios in Colombia.

Since then, Russo underwent various treatments and two surgeries while remaining active in football. After a series of hospitalizations that began in early September, he found it difficult to coach regularly and began to be absent.

His last public appearance was on September 23, during a team practice at Boca Predio, when the club shared a smiling image on social media where the president and idol Juan Román Riquelme embraced him.

Born in Valentín Alsina on April 9, 1956, he was a talented central midfielder who spent his entire career in the First Division with the Estudiantes jersey of La Plata, one of the few ‘one-club-men’ in the world: he played 435 matches and scored 11 goals between 1975 and 1988.

With Pincha, he won two local titles, the 1982 Metropolitano and the 1983 Nacional, which earned him a call-up to the Argentine National Team under Carlos Salvador Bilardo. He wore the sky blue and white 17 times (scoring once) and was close to being called up for the 1986 Mexico World Cup.

Russo, during his time as an Estudiantes player, alongside Insúa, Trobbiani, and Saralegui. (@EdelpOficial)

After retiring, he began coaching Lanús - leading them to promotion in '92 - and also promoted Estudiantes (1995). He then went through Universidad de Chile, Rosario Central, Salamanca in Spain, Colón, Los Andes, and Monarcas Morelia before moving to Vélez.

His first major achievement in the First Division was the 2005 Clausura with Fortín, and in 2007 he reached the pinnacle by winning Boca's last Copa Libertadores. He also coached San Lorenzo and Racing before regaining the category with Canalla (2013).

At Millonarios, he was a Colombian champion twice in 2017 - while undergoing chemotherapy - and coached Alianza Lima and Cerro Porteño until his second stint with Xeneize, where he won a league title in a head-to-head with River and the Maradona Cup, during the pandemic. His last title came in his fifth attempt with his beloved Central, at the end of 2023.

After abruptly ending a brief second period at San Lorenzo, Riquelme called him to take on the 'hot seat' of Boca before the Club World Cup, in a cycle that extended until the 5-0 victory over Newell’s on Sunday, with the team under the guidance of Claudio Úbeda and Juvenal Rodríguez, the assistants.

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