“Beating Boca Juniors as a coach and as a player is a source of pride”: Dudamel

Boca Juniors began on Tuesday its journey towards the long-awaited conquest of its seventh Copa Libertadores with a bumpy 2-0 defeat in its visit to Colombian Deportivo Cali, at the opening of Group E. Argentines, with a view to lifting the continent's most important trophy for the first time since 2007, were defeated by the current champion of Colombian football at the Palmaseca stadium in Cali.

A header from central defender Guillermo Burdisso, about the 70th minute, and another by Jhon Vásquez, in the 80′ gave the 'sugarreros' a historic triumph. Thus Deportivo Cali shares the top position in Group E with Always Ready, which in another surprise result defeated Corinthians by the same difference.

On the other hand, let us remember that Rafael Dudamel, as a goalkeeper for Cali, was part of the team that in 2001 beat the Argentine team in the Copa Libertadores 3-0. And this Tuesday, but now as a coach, the Venezuelan coach was once again part of the team that won the victory.

After the important victory, Rafael Dudamel spoke at a press conference about this triumph and the feeling it left him. In addition, he talked about the BetPlay League, a tournament in which the sugar team has not had the best performance and is second to last in the standings with 12 points.

The Venezuelan technical director began by saying that: “Beating Boca Juniors as a player and as a technical director makes me proud.” And he added that: “Our team was very dedicated and intelligent, with the passing of the matches we have matured.”

Now, regarding the match and the development of the game, which changed in favor of the Caleños from the second half, Dudamel explained that: “The changes will always be good or bad depending on the final result. What we did today was fantastic and we had already worked on it, nothing is improvised.”

After the poor results in the local tournament, it became known, through social networks, that for many, Cali's victory this Tuesday was unexpected. However, Dudamel confessed that he still hopes to overcome the situation and hopes that the victory against Boca will motivate his players to reverse the bad moment. “I want to tell the fans that we are not eliminated from the league and we will do our best to do our best, we are already thinking about the match against Junior in Barranquilla.”

Finally, Deportivo Cali will have to face, for the BetPlay League, Barranquilla Junior, and then face the second date in the Libertadores group stage against Corinthians next Wednesday.

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