Rio de Janeiro’s Maracanã had already given Boca Juniors a commanding night against Vasco when Leandro Paredes arrived from the bench to put a personal seal on the journey to Barranquilla. Considered unlikely to feature in either leg after a left hamstring injury, the Argentina international scored late in a 3-1 win that sent Boca into the Copa Sudamericana final.
Paredes entered in the 56th minute, with Boca already two goals ahead, and struck the third in the 87th. It was a particularly emphatic return for a player who had suffered a grade-two injury to the back of his left thigh during the 2-2 draw with Instituto on the ninth of the month. His availability for the Vasco ties had appeared remote, making his contribution at the Maracanã all the more significant.
Afterwards, Paredes thanked the squad and the people who had helped bring him back in time. “I am grateful to the group, my team-mates and everyone who made it possible for me to be here, even if only for a short spell,” he said.
A response on the pitch
The Boca midfielder also addressed the irritation within the visitors’ camp over a social-media post by Vasco’s Thiago Mendes. The midfielder had shared an artificial-intelligence image depicting him tearing Boca’s crest, a gesture Paredes felt had crossed a line before the tie.
“We knew there had been a lack of respect towards us,” Paredes said. “We spoke about it before the match, but one player’s decision would never make us disrespect a club like Vasco. Nor did we want to disrespect him. Still, we felt that lack of respect and wanted to show our character.”
Thiago Mendes subsequently became the target of racist comments online following the post. Boca’s answer, however, came in the football itself: an accomplished two-leg performance and a noisy departure from Rio, with the players celebrating their passage to the final.
Barranquilla in view
For Paredes, the goal belongs among the most consequential of his career, if not necessarily alone at the summit. “Because of the occasion, the context and the importance of reaching a final, it is certainly one of the biggest,” he said.
His greater emphasis was on the collective. Paredes praised Boca’s display across the series, saying the players had earned the right to wear the shirt and that he was proud to belong to the group. The next destination is Barranquilla, where Boca hope to turn an impressive continental run into a Copa Sudamericana title.
