# 1997–98 Club Atlético Boca Juniors season

The 1997–98 Club Atlético Boca Juniors season was the 68th consecutive Primera División season played by the senior squad.

## Summary

The club reinforced the squad with several players: Claudio Caniggia came back after a brief retirement, forward Martin Palermo from Estudiantes La Plata, twins Guillermo Barros Schelotto, Gustavo Barros Schelotto arrived from Gimnasia LP, Colombian centre back Jorge Bermúdez from Benfica, goalkeeper Oscar Cordoba from America de Cali, defender Walter Samuel from Newell's Old Boys, Mexican striker Luis Hernandez and Peruvian midfielder Nolberto Solano.
In Apertura Tournament the squad finished on 2nd spot just one single point below champions River Plate. On 25 October 1997 Diego Maradona announced his retirement being in fact, the last official match that he played.
For the Clausura Tournament, the club was reinforced with Rodolfo Cardoso, Sergio Castillo and Colombian midfielder Mauricio Serna. In spite of being heavily favourites the squad sank to the 6th spot prompting coach Veira to quit as head coach on 2 May 1998. Chairman Mauricio Macri wanted to appoint Daniel Passarella- then coach of Argentina National team- as new head manager, however, after a majority of Boca fans rejected him due to his past a River Plate idol, the club board did not sign a contract.
Meanwhile, former Velez Sarsfield head coach Carlos Bianchi rejected an offer from Julio Grondona Chairman of AFA to be the Argentina National team coach after the 1998 FIFA World Cup not accepting Jose Pekerman as manager and his high influence on Grondona. On 27 May 1998 Bianchi took the vacancy out at Boca appointed by Macri as new head coach of the club with a contract signed until December 1999.

## Special uniforms

Alternate kits worn only in 1997 Supercopa Libertadores
| Home | Away |

## Squad

Permanent squad numbers entered into force since 1997 Apertura:
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 1 | GK | COL | Oscar Córdoba |
| 2 | DF | COL | Jorge Bermúdez |
| 3 | DF | ARG | Mauricio Pineda |
| 4 | MF | PER | Nolberto Solano |
| 5 | MF | ARG | Alfredo Berti |
| 6 | DF | ARG | Néstor Fabbri |
| 7 | FW | URU | Sergio Martínez |
| 28 | MF | ARG | Julio Cesar Toresani |
| 8 | FW | ARG | Claudio Caniggia |
| 9 | FW | ARG | Martín Palermo |
| 10 | FW | ARG | Diego Maradona |
| 11 | MF | ARG | Diego Latorre |
| 12 | GK | ARG | Roberto Abbondanzieri |
| 13 | GK | ARG | Emanuel Ruiz |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 14 | DF | ARG | Nelson Vivas |
| 16 | DF | ARG | Christian Traverso |
| 17 | DF | ARG | Walter Samuel |
| 18 | DF | ARG | Rodolfo Arruabarrena |
| 19 | MF | ARG | Diego Cagna |
| 20 | MF | ARG | Juan Román Riquelme |
| 21 | MF | ARG | Gustavo Barros Schelotto |
| 22 | MF | ARG | César La Paglia |
| 23 | FW | ARG | Guillermo Barros Schelotto |
| 25 | GK | ARG | Christian Muñoz |
| 26 | MF | ARG | Pablo Islas |
| 15 | DF | ARG | Aníbal Matellán |
| 24 | FW | ARG | Sebastián Rambert |
| 27 | FW | MEX | Luis Hernández |

### Transfers

In :
| Pos. | Name | from | Type |
| GK | Oscar Cordoba | America de Cali | |
| MF | Nolberto Solano | Sporting Cristal | |
| FW | Martin Palermo | Estudiantes La Plata | |
| DF | Jorge Bermudez | Benfica | |
| FW | Guillermo Barros Schelotto | Gimnasia y Esgrima (LP) | |
| MF | Gustavo Barros Schelotto | Gimnasia y Esgrima (LP) | |
| DF | Walter Samuel | Newell's Old Boys | |
| FW | Luis Hernandez | Necaxa | loan |
Out :
| Pos. | Name | To |
| FW | Sergio Daniel Martinez | Deportivo La Coruña |
| FW | Sebastián Rambert | River Plate |
| MF | Gabriel Cedrés | Club América |
| DF | Héctor Pineda | Udinese Calcio |

#### January

In :
| Pos. | Name | from |
| MF | Mauricio Serna | Atlético Nacional |
| MF | Rodolfo Cardoso | Hamburg SV |
| MF | Sergio Castillo | Deportivo Español |
Out :
| Pos. | Name | To | Type |
| MF | Diego Maradona | | retired |
| FW | Luis Hernandez | Necaxa | loan ended |
| DF | Nelson Vivas | FC Lugano | loan |
| MF | Gustavo Barros Schelotto | Unión de Santa Fe | loan |
| MF | Julio Cesar Toresani | Independiente | |

## Competitions
### Torneo Apertura
#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | River Plate | 19 | 14 | 3 | 2 | 43 | 17 | +26 | 45 |
| 2 | Boca Juniors | 19 | 13 | 5 | 1 | 35 | 12 | +23 | 44 |
| 3 | Rosario Central | 19 | 10 | 5 | 4 | 35 | 20 | +15 | 35 |
| 4 | Vélez Sársfield | 19 | 8 | 8 | 3 | 42 | 23 | +19 | 32 |
| 5 | San Lorenzo | 19 | 9 | 5 | 5 | 42 | 32 | +10 | 32 |

#### Position by round

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
| Ground | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H |
| Result | W | D | W | D | W | D | W | W | W | W | L | W | D | W | W | W | D | W | W |
| Position | 3 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |

#### Matches
### Torneo Clausura
#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 4 | Gimnasia y Esgrima (J) | 19 | 9 | 5 | 5 | 23 | 20 | +3 | 32 |
| 5 | San Lorenzo | 19 | 9 | 3 | 7 | 36 | 27 | +9 | 30 |
| 6 | Boca Juniors | 19 | 8 | 5 | 6 | 38 | 30 | +8 | 29 |
| 7 | River Plate | 19 | 7 | 8 | 4 | 32 | 24 | +8 | 29 |
| 8 | Argentinos Juniors | 19 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 26 | 17 | +9 | 28 |

#### Position by round

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
| Ground | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A |
| Result | W | L | W | L | L | D | W | D | D | W | L | D | L | L | W | W | W | W | D |
| Position | 4 | 11 | 5 | 9 | 12 | 14 | 11 | 8 | 9 | 7 | 10 | 11 | 13 | 14 | 12 | 10 | 7 | 6 | 6 |

#### Matches
## Statistics
### Players statistics

| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Total | Total | Apertura 97 | Apertura 97 | Clausura 98 | Clausura 98 |
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| | GK | COL | Oscar Cordoba | 25 | 0 | 17 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| | DF | PER | Nolberto Solano | 32 | 5 | 18 | 3 | 14 | 2 |
| | DF | COL | Jorge Bermudez | 31 | 1 | 17 | 1 | 14 | 0 |
| | DF | ARG | Nestor Fabbri | 27 | 4 | 12 | 0 | 15 | 4 |
| | DF | ARG | Rodolfo Arruabarrena | 35 | 6 | 18 | 4 | 17 | 2 |
| | MF | ARG | Diego Cagna | 33 | 1 | 19 | 1 | 14 | 0 |
| | MF | ARG | Diego Latorre | 30 | 14 | 18 | 9 | 12 | 5 |
| | MF | ARG | Rodolfo Cardoso | 11 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 1 |
| | FW | ARG | Claudio Paul Caniggia | 22 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 17 | 5 |
| | FW | ARG | Martin Palermo | 32 | 20 | 17 | 8 | 15 | 12 |
| | FW | ARG | Guillermo Barros Schelotto | 33 | 6 | 16 | 3 | 17 | 3 |
| | GK | ARG | Roberto Abbondanzieri | 13 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 11 | 0 |
| | MF | ARG | Christian Traverso | 13 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| | MF | ARG | Juan Roman Riquelme | 19 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| | DF | ARG | Nelson Vivas | 8 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| | MF | ARG | Pablo Eduardo Islas | 9 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| | DF | ARG | Hector Pineda | 6 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| 10 | FW | ARG | Diego Maradona | 5 | 2 | 5 | 2 | - | - |
| | MF | ARG | Gustavo Barros Schelotto | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | MF | ARG | Alfredo Berti | 13 | 0 | 13 | 0 |
| | DF | ARG | Emanuel Ruiz | 9 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| | DF | ARG | Walter Samuel | 12 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| | DF | ARG | Cesar Osvaldo La Paglia | 9 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 1 |
| | DF | ARG | Julio Cesar Toresani | 16 | 1 | 16 | 1 |
| | FW | URU | Sergio Daniel Martinez | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| | DF | ARG | Anibal Matellan | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| | GK | ARG | Christan Fernando Muñoz | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | FW | ARG | Sebastián Rambert | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| | FW | MEX | Luis Hernandez | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | - |
| | MF | COL | Mauricio Serna | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 1 |
| | DF | ARG | Sergio Castillo | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 0 |
| | DF | ARG | Luis Darío Calvo | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 0 |
| | DF | ARG | Ariel Rosada | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| | DF | ARG | Fernando Rodolfo Navas | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1 |
| | MF | ARG | Hernan Vigna | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| | FW | ARG | Fernando Ortiz | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| | DF | ARG | Hernan Florentin | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| | MF | ARG | Sebastián Battaglia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| | DF | ARG | Héctor Andrés Bracamonte | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| | DF | ARG | Hugo Darío Dominguez | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
* Source: