Boca's Maracana File: Glory with Sanfilippo, a Win with Backups, and Riquelme's Fury at Migliore

The Maracana is no ordinary stadium for Boca Juniors. Every time the Xeneize have stepped onto that turf, they've left a story behind, and now, with the trip to face Vasco da Gama in the semifinal second leg of the 2026 Copa Sudamericana, it's worth revisiting a past that mixes glory, frustration and more than a little spice.

The first time Boca played at the iconic Rio venue was in nothing less than the final of the 1963 Copa Libertadores. The club became the first Argentine team to reach that stage, something club president Alberto J. Armando had chased with real obsession. The squad carried heavyweight names: Errea in goal, Marzolini and Rattin on the field, a very young Rojitas, and that year's big signing, José Sanfilippo, the goal scoring menace who'd arrived from San Lorenzo.

Waiting on the other side was Pele and Coutinho's Santos, an unstoppable machine. Sanfilippo, hot tempered and unwilling to lose even a friendly, was decisive, scoring all three of Boca's goals in that final. It wasn't enough. Santos won 3-2 in Brazil and 2-1 at the Bombonera. At the Maracana, the home side went up 3-0 before the 30 minute mark, and Boca clawed back to a final 3-2.

The match was brutal. Sanfilippo, nicknamed "el Nene," took a beating, so much so that at one point, when Rattin went to help Pele up off the ground, Sanfilippo himself snapped at him: "Leave him, as if you're going to help him. Didn't you see how these sons of... hit me? They left my ankles in pieces." Later, in the return leg in La Boca, it was Pele's turn to suffer, his shorts torn apart from being grabbed so much. The Brazilian star himself left behind a line that stuck: "It's really harder to beat Boca than a national team at a World Cup."

It's really harder to beat Boca than a national team at a World Cup.Pele

Bianchi's backups deliver a blow

Thirty five years passed before Boca finally won in regulation at the Maracana. It happened on September 2, 1998, in the Copa Mercosur, against Flamengo. Carlos Bianchi, newly arrived at the club, fielded a lineup loaded with backups while saving his starters for the domestic championship. Rey and Matellan scored the goals in a 2-0 win, and the home side even had a penalty saved.

The press had criticized Bianchi for leaving his starters out, but the Virrey answered with authority.

The press is free to say whatever it wants, we live in a democracy. Here there are no starters or backups, everyone matters and they know it.Carlos Bianchi

Meanwhile, back in Buenos Aires, names like Cordoba, Bermudez, Serna, Riquelme and Palermo were getting a rest.

The Fluminense elimination and the Riquelme-Migliore clash

In 2008, the Maracana was also the stage for a painful elimination. Boca had won the first leg 2-1 and were close to reaching the final, but a mistake by Pablo Migliore gifted Fluminense the equalizer. Juan Roman Riquelme reportedly tore into the goalkeeper over that play, to the point of nearly coming to blows in the locker room. In Brazil, Boca fell 3-1 and were eliminated. Not long after, then club president Pedro Pompilio decided Migliore would leave the club.

With all that history of lost finals, wins with backup players and internal clashes, Boca returns to a stage that has always demanded its very best.