# 2002–03 Club Atlético Boca Juniors season

The 2002–03 Club Atlético Boca Juniors season was the 73rd consecutive Primera División season played by the senior squad.

## Summary

During summer, several players left the club, including fan favorite midfielder Juan Roman Riquelme, who transferred out to FC Barcelona.
Macri reinforced the squad with midfielder Raul Alfredo Cascini from Toulouse FC and, on loan from FC Porto, right back defender Hugo Ibarra.
In the Apertura Tournament the team finished on 2nd spot, three points below of Champions Independiente. Meanwhile, in the inaugural season of 2002 Copa Sudamericana the squad was eliminated by Gimnasia y Esgrima de La Plata in Eightfinals stage.
Head coach Carlos Bianchi was appointed on 23 December 2002 after rumors that he accepted other positions with FC Barcelona and Mexico National Team.
For Apertura, along with Bianchi, Macri reinforced the team with a few players, including midfielders Diego Cagna from Atletico Celaya and Javier Alejandro Villarreal. The squad finished runners-up again, two points below of Champions River Plate.
The season is best remembered by the victory in 2003 Copa Libertadores. The squad reached the Finals stage and won the trophy, defeating Brazilian side Santos FC with a 5-1 global score after two matches.

## Squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| — | GK | ARG | Roberto Abbondanzieri |
| — | DF | ARG | Hugo Ibarra |
| — | DF | ARG | Nicolas Burdisso |
| — | DF | ARG | Rolando Schiavi |
| — | DF | ARG | Clemente Rodriguez |
| — | MF | ARG | Sebastian Battaglia |
| — | MF | ARG | Raul Alfredo Cascini |
| — | MF | ARG | Diego Crosa |
| — | FW | ARG | Carlos Tevez |
| — | FW | ARG | Guillermo Barros Schelotto |
| — | FW | ARG | Marcelo Delgado |
| — | GK | ARG | Willy Caballero |
| — | FW | ARG | Ezequiel González |
| — | DF | ARG | Matías Donnet |
| — | MF | ARG | Javier Alejandro Villarreal |
| — | DF | ARG | Raúl Estévez |
| — | MF | ARG | Diego Cagna |
| — | DF | ARG | José María Calvo |
| — | DF | ARG | Gustavo Pinto |
| — | MF | ARG | Pablo Jerez |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| — | FW | ARG | Alfredo Moreno |
| — | MF | ARG | Miguel Caneo |
| — | MF | ARG | Franco Cangele |
| — | DF | ARG | Omar Sebastián Pérez |
| — | DF | ARG | Cesar Alberto Gonzalez |
| — | FW | ARG | Héctor Bracamonte |
| — | MF | ARG | Joel Enrique Barbosa |
| — | MF | ARG | Matias Silvestre |
| — | MF | ARG | Héctor Carballo |
| — | DF | ARG | Pablo Sebastian Alvarez |
| — | FW | ARG | Mauro Boselli |
| — | DF | ARG | Juan Pablo Caffa |
| — | MF | BRA | Gabriel Christovao |
| — | DF | ARG | Gustavo Eberto |
| — | MF | BRA | Edilio Cardoso de Oliveira |
| — | DF | ARG | Victor Magnano |
| — | DF | ARG | Victor Ormazabal |
| — | DF | ARG | Raul Osella |
| — | DF | ARG | Leonardo Veron |
| — | DF | ARG | Jonathan Fabbro |
| — | FW | ARG | Christian Giménez |
| — | DF | ARG | Roberto Carlos Sosa |

### Transfers

In :
| Pos. | Name | from | Type |
| DF | Hugo Ibarra | FC Porto | loan |
| MF | Raul Alfredo Cascini | Toulouse FC | |
| MF | Ezequiel González | | |
| FW | Matías Donnet | | |
| MF | Raúl Estévez | | |
| FW | Arley Dinas | | |
Out :
| Pos. | Name | To |
| MF | Juan Roman Riquelme | FC Barcelona |
| MF | Christian Traverso | |
| MF | Mauricio Serna | |
| MF | Julio Marchant | |
| FW | Walter Gaitán | Tigres UANL |
| DF | Jorge Daniel Martinez | |
| MF | Ariel Carreño | |
| FW | Abel Balbo | |
| DF | Juan Forchetti | |

#### January

In :
| Pos. | Name |
| MF | Javier Alejandro Villarreal |
| DF | Alfredo Moreno |
| DF | Diego Cagna |
| MF | Pablo Jerez |
| DF | Miguel Caneo |
| MF | Franco Cangele |
| DF | Matias Silvestre |
| MF | Héctor Carballo |
| DF | Pablo Sebastian Alvarez |
| FW | Mauro Boselli |
| DF | Juan Pablo Caffa |
| DF | Gabriel Christovao |
| DF | Gustavo Eberto |
| DF | Edilio Cardoso de Oliveira |
| DF | Victor Magnano |
| DF | Victor Ormazabal |
| DF | Raul Osella |
| DF | Leonardo Veron |
| DF | Jonathan Fabbro |
Out :
| Pos. | Name |
| FW | Christian Giménez |
| FW | Roberto Carlos Sosa |
| FW | Arley Dinas |

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

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | Independiente | 19 | 13 | 4 | 2 | 48 | 19 | +29 | 43 |
| 2 | Boca Juniors | 19 | 12 | 4 | 3 | 32 | 15 | +17 | 40 |
| 3 | River Plate | 19 | 11 | 3 | 5 | 35 | 23 | +12 | 36 |
| 4 | Chacarita Juniors | 19 | 9 | 3 | 7 | 19 | 21 | −2 | 30 |
| 5 | Vélez Sársfield | 19 | 8 | 4 | 7 | 23 | 19 | +4 | 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 | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H |
| Result | D | W | W | W | D | L | W | W | L | D | W | L | W | W | W | W | W | D | W |
| Position | 7 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |

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

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | River Plate | 19 | 13 | 4 | 2 | 43 | 18 | +25 | 43 |
| 2 | Boca Juniors | 19 | 12 | 3 | 4 | 36 | 23 | +13 | 39 |
| 3 | Vélez Sársfield | 19 | 12 | 2 | 5 | 27 | 12 | +15 | 38 |
| 4 | Rosario Central | 19 | 10 | 7 | 2 | 40 | 18 | +22 | 37 |
| 5 | Colón | 19 | 7 | 8 | 4 | 19 | 14 | +5 | 29 |

#### 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 | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A |
| Result | W | L | W | W | W | W | W | D | W | W | L | W | W | D | W | D | L | W | L |
| Position | 1 | 8 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 |

#### Matches
### Copa Sudamericana
#### Eightfinals
## Statistics
### Players statistics

| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Total | Total | Apertura 2002 | Apertura 2002 | Sudamericana | Sudamericana | Clausura 2003 | Clausura 2003 | Libertadores | Libertadores |
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| | GK | ARG | Roberto Abbondanzieri | 49 | 0 | 19 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 14 | 0 | 14 | 0 |
| | DF | ARG | Hugo Ibarra | 35 | 4 | 16 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 1 | 10 | 0 |
| | DF | ARG | Nicolas Burdisso | 42 | 0 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 12 | 0 |
| | DF | ARG | Rolando Schiavi | 33 | 7 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 11 | 2 | 11 | 3 |
| | DF | ARG | Clemente Rodriguez | 44 | 2 | 19 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 1 | 13 | 0 |
| | MF | ARG | Javier Alejandro Villarreal | 22 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 2 | 11 | 0 |
| | MF | ARG | Sebastian Battaglia | 34 | 3 | 17 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 10 | 0 |
| | MF | ARG | Raul Alfredo Cascini | 38 | 1 | 19 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 11 | 0 |
| | MF | ARG | Diego Cagna | 22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 11 | 0 |
| | FW | ARG | Carlos Tevez | 41 | 16 | 19 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 13 | 5 | 8 | 5 |
| | FW | ARG | Marcelo Delgado | 45 | 18 | 19 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 13 | 9 |
| | GK | ARG | Willy Caballero | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| | FW | ARG | Guillermo Barros Schelotto | 28 | 15 | 9 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 5 | 10 | 6 |
| | FW | ARG | Ezequiel González | 27 | 4 | 13 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| | DF | ARG | Matías Donnet | 32 | 4 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 12 | 3 | 9 | 1 |
| | MF | ARG | Diego Crosa | 41 | 0 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 0 | 9 | 0 |
| | DF | ARG | Raúl Estévez | 26 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 15 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| | DF | ARG | José María Calvo | 13 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| | DF | ARG | Gustavo Pinto | 27 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 13 | 1 | 9 | 0 |
| | MF | ARG | Pablo Jerez | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| | FW | ARG | Alfredo Moreno | 11 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 3 |
| | MF | ARG | Miguel Caneo | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 0 |
| | MF | ARG | Franco Cangele | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 1 |
| | DF | ARG | Omar Sebastián Pérez | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| | DF | ARG | Cesar Alberto Gonzalez | 7 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| | FW | ARG | Héctor Bracamonte | 21 | 9 | 14 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 5 |
| | MF | ARG | Joel Enrique Barbosa | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| | MF | ARG | Matias Silvestre | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 |
| | MF | ARG | Héctor Carballo | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| | DF | ARG | Pablo Sebastian Alvarez | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| | FW | ARG | Mauro Boselli | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| | DF | ARG | Juan Pablo Caffa | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| | MF | BRA | Gabriel Christovao | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| | DF | ARG | Gustavo Eberto | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| | MF | BRA | Edilio Cardoso de Oliveira | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| | DF | ARG | Victor Magnano | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| | DF | ARG | Victor Ormazabal | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| | DF | ARG | Raul Osella | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| | DF | ARG | Leonardo Veron | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| | DF | ARG | Jonathan Fabbro | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 |
| | FW | ARG | Christian Giménez | 11 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| | DF | ARG | Roberto Carlos Sosa | 9 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| | FW | COL | Arley Dinas | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
* Source: