Riquelme’s swipe at Berlanga over Vélez statement | OneFootball

The saga over the improper inclusion keeps growing. In less than 24 hours, there were more chapters than in a transfer window. On Friday night, reports emerged that in Boca’s Copa Argentina round-of-16 match against Vélez, the club listed six players on the team sheet when regulations only allow five. On Saturday afternoon, Vélez released a statement, and a few hours later Juan Román Riquelme fired back with a strong jab at Fabián Berlanga, the man in charge at El Fortín.

Before the clash against Gimnasia y Esgrima de Mendoza, the Boca president stepped outside the stadium to speak to “ESPN” microphones, where he held nothing back when referring to what had happened minutes earlier. “I didn’t see the statement, I know they posted something. Boca deservedly won on Wednesday, they played a great match, they were superior to their opponent,” he shot back from the start.

Vélez reported Boca to the AFA for an improper lineup. Photo: Vélez Sarsfield

As if that were not enough, without mentioning him directly, Riquelme sent a strong message to Berlanga over the decision to file a formal complaint with the Disciplinary Tribunal and ask for Boca to be disqualified from the Copa Argentina and, therefore, for Vélez to advance to the quarterfinals. “Matches are won on the field. In the end, I love football, you win by playing the game,” he said.

Vélez’s statement

Shortly after midday on Saturday, Vélez surprised everyone with a statement on social media announcing the official complaint before the AFA Disciplinary Tribunal over the breach of Article 31 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (amended in 2019). It states that clubs affiliated with the AFA and competing in the First Division may register a maximum of six players, of whom five are eligible to be listed on the team sheet in official matches.

“The complaint is based on an objective and documented fact: Boca Juniors included six foreign players on the official match sheet when the current regulations establish a maximum of five eligible to be listed on it. The situation arises from the official match sheet itself and from records in the AFA’s COMET system,” the post says.

Riquelme’s complaint against the media

Juan Román Riquelme has never had a close relationship with the media—quite the opposite: it has always been tense. And since becoming Boca’s president, that relationship has grown even more distant, to the point that he hardly gives interviews and, when he does, it is often to take shots at the press.

In this case, the Boca idol used the microphones to express his frustration with the media: “We were lucky that the Vélez player didn’t come down on Leandro Paredes’ ankle, because otherwise we’d all be sad today because he’d be injured. For me, it was a red card. But nothing was said. When it happens against Boca, nothing gets said; we know that’s how the media works. But since Boca deservedly won, they have to talk about something else.”

Keep reading:

All in: Vélez formally filed its complaint against Boca

From Vélez’s complaint to Boca’s calm over the improper inclusion of foreign players

Boca’s player ratings in their qualification to the Copa Argentina quarterfinals

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