A fan of the late Argentine coach Miguel Ángel Russo kisses a Boca Juniors shirt outside the La Bombonera stadium before his wake in Buenos Aires, October 9, 2025.
Photo: AFP – LUIS ROBAYO
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The street vendor Diego Pasallo woke up early to be the first to say goodbye “with a party” to the soccer coach Miguel Ángel Russo in the mythical Bombonera, where the soccer club Boca Juniors pays tribute this Thursday to its deceased technical director.
The Xeneize club headquarters was surrounded by fences from early in the morning waiting for the fans who They will say goodbye to one of the greatest legends of Argentine footballwho died Wednesday at age 69.
“Miguel gave everything for Boca, like me”Pasallo, 34, told AFP. He has the Boca shield tattooed on his right arm with the phrase “From the cradle to the drawer.”
“Boca is a town and a carnival and we are going to say goodbye to it as we Boca fans usually do: with a party”said the street vendor, who was at the head of the line dressed, from head to toe, in the club's blue and yellow colors.
There were no flags or posters around the club, but rather an occasional mood of recollection. broken by a cry of encouragement.
A delivery truck honked as it passed, in a street tribute that the fans in line, dressed in the club's jersey, greeted with applause and the chorus: “¡Russo, Russo!”
A hundred people were waiting to enter the club hall converted into a funeral chapel to say goodbye to 'Miguelo', in a wake that will last until 10:00 p.m. and will continue briefly on Friday morning.
There, sadness was mixed with pride at having been the coach's last club. in a professional career spanning more than five decades.
“Forever in our hearts,” Boca Juniors dedicated to him on a poster with his image in the stadium and the cups won with Russo on the grass of the playing field.
Russo's career
Man of few words and direct phrases, Russo was a coach for more than half of his life.
He accumulated 36 seasons on the bank, in a career that had its most significant cycles in Boca, Rosario Central and Estudiantesand that even had him close to commanding the Albiceleste.
Furthermore, in Colombia, where his prostate and bladder cancer was detected, won Millionaires champion against their eternal rivals: Santa Fe and Atlético Nacional.
His first title in first class was achieved with Vélez Sarsfield in 2005. Later, at the request of Diego Maradona, he was summoned to coach Boca, which he led to conquer the Copa Libertadores 2007his greatest achievement as a coach and the last one achieved by the xeneize club.
Boca never gave details of his health, but it was known that in 2017 he was diagnosed with prostate cancer.
“Chau Miguel”
Luis Conrado, a 67-year-old bricklayer, traveled from the town of Lanús, on the southern outskirts of Buenos Aires, where Russo made his debut as a coach.
“It looked bad, but I didn't expect it. He fought until the end,” he told AFP.
In Lanús “he found us in B, rescued us and returned us to glory. For that joy I come to thank him,” he added.
Rosana Alegre and Fernando López, mother and son, also traveled half an hour from Palomar to say goodbye to their idol.
Russo “caught us in the worst moments and led us to glory like a champion does. He was also a man of integrity who in his last days, knowing that the end was coming, “He asked to wear Boca's clothes.”said Rosana, 59 years old.
Her 23-year-old son was moved to tears when he heard her.
In the middle of the sea of blue and gold of the fans who were saying goodbye to their idol, one stood out wearing the jersey of Students in memory of Russo's time as a player in the La Plata club, the only shirt he played with apart from the national team.
“He never betrayed Estudiantes fans”Roberto Pelayo told AFP.
Roberto, 59 years old, was the first of the foreigners to arrive at the tribute after traveling almost 30 km from Quilmes, without sleepingbecause he works at night in a security company.
“Today at the farewell we are all football lovers, together, without rivalries,” he told AFP. “Today all the shirts, all the colors, are mixed together to say 'bye Miguel, until the next game there will be revenge.'”
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