Boca returns to the Morumbi 19 years later, still chasing a win it has never found there

Boca won 1-0 at La Bombonera and has one foot and a half in the Copa Sudamericana semifinals. Now a ghost that has haunted the club for 65 years awaits: the Morumbi. There, against Sao Paulo, Boca still has never won.

Next Tuesday, September 15, Rodolfo Arruabarrena's team will travel to Brazil to close out the quarterfinal series holding the slimmest of advantages. A draw is enough to advance. But there's something else on the line beyond the trip to the semis: the chance to end a statistic that dates back to 1961.

It will also be a return loaded with symbolism. Boca hasn't set foot on that field since 2007, when the two sides last met, fittingly enough in the Copa Sudamericana.

A history that began far from the Morumbi

The rivalry between these two clubs on Brazilian soil started long before the Morumbi became the stage for these clashes. The first meeting came on January 4, 1947, at the Pacaembu, with a 1-0 win for Boca thanks to a goal from Boyé. A year later, at the same stadium, the result repeated itself: another 1-0 for the Argentines.

Things changed drastically in 1956, when Sao Paulo crushed Boca 4-0 in the Torneo Roberto Gomes Pedrosa, with two goals from Gino and others from Maurinho and Canhoteiro. To this day, it remains one of the heaviest defeats Boca has suffered against a Brazilian side.

It wasn't until June 29, 1961, that the Morumbi hosted the two clubs for the first time: a 1-1 friendly. That's where it began, though nobody knew it at the time, a story that would keep being written decades later.

Six visits, not a single joy

Since that founding draw, Boca has returned to the Morumbi five more times. In 1994, in the second leg of the Supercopa, Boca fell 1-0 on a goal from Caio, but the loss didn't stop it from advancing since it arrived with a 2-0 lead from Buenos Aires. In 1999, in the Copa Mercosur, Boca drew 1-1 (a goal from Diego Cagna) after having won 5-1 in the first leg. And in 1997, in a friendly, Boca lost 3-1.

The most memorable chapter came on September 14, 2006, in the second leg of the Recopa Sudamericana. Boca arrived holding a 2-1 edge from La Bombonera. Júnior put the home side ahead, Rodrigo Palacio equalized before halftime, and Martín Palermo put Boca back in front. Late in the match, an own goal from Claudio Morel Rodríguez sealed the 2-2 final. That result was enough for Boca to claim the title by a 4-3 aggregate score, and it left behind an image still remembered today: Rogério Ceni hurling his runner-up medal into the stands.

The last visit, though, ended badly. On September 26, 2007, in the round of 16 of the Copa Sudamericana, Boca arrived with a 2-1 lead thanks to Palermo. Aloísio scored the only goal of the second leg and, with the away goals rule still in effect at the time, Sao Paulo advanced and knocked Boca out.

The full record at that stadium now stands as follows: six matches, three draws and three losses, without a single win. Five goals scored and nine allowed. Counting only official matches, it's four appearances, two draws and two losses.

Now, 19 years after that elimination, Boca returns to the Morumbi with a spot in the semifinals on the line and a lead to protect. A draw will do. A win, on top of that, would close out an account that has been open for more than six decades.