Claudio Ubeda defends Merentiel's goal drought and explains how Cavani's Boca exit really happened

Six matches without scoring once. That is the stat now following Miguel Merentiel, the forward who not so long ago was a guaranteed source of goals for Boca and who, in the middle of the 2026 Clausura Tournament, still hasn't opened his account. Claudio Ubeda addressed that drought, along with the end of Edinson Cavani's spell at the club, on ESPN F90.

Boca's former head coach, appearing on Pollo Vignolo's program, didn't hold back. He recalled Miguel Angel Russo, praised the form of the team now led by Vasco Rodolfo Arruabarrena, and dug into two of the topics generating the most noise among fans: the Beast's lack of goals, and the Matador who left without getting to say goodbye on the field.

Merentiel's streak, put in context

Ubeda called for calm regarding Merentiel. He noted that the forward is still young in the club's recent history: he has played 172 matches in Boca colors and has already racked up 57 goals, a scoring rate any forward would sign up for. For the former coach, the lack of goals doesn't erase that body of work.

"He's a goalscorer who goes through streaks, like any goalscorer. And he needs to get back to scoring. But he has fewer than 200 matches for the club, 172, and more than 50 goals, 57," Ubeda pointed out.

In other words, for Ubeda the drought is a rough patch within a much longer and largely positive run, not a warning sign. Does that ease the anxiety among fans every Sunday? Probably not, but it does put the number in perspective.

Cavani, giving everything until the end

The other name was Edinson Cavani, whose time at Boca ended marked more by physical pain than by soccer decisions. Ubeda was blunt describing what it meant for the Uruguayan to fight his own body right up to the final stretch.

"He did the impossible to be able to be out there," the coach said of the Matador.

He went further into the specific problem that gradually wore Cavani down: "He would try to train at full intensity to be able to be part of things, and his back would never let him... especially in a position where you play with your back to the center backs, where you're constantly colliding and taking hits," Ubeda said.

The back issue ended up being decisive in a role that demands constant contact with opposing defenders, something a box forward like Cavani simply couldn't avoid.

"I think it hurt him a lot not being able to end his time at Boca in a different way, I have no doubt about that. I spoke with him many times. We followed his progress day by day, and unfortunately neither the injection nor the surgery... He couldn't get past the pain that kept building, and unfortunately he had the ending that he had"Claudio Ubeda

That account makes one thing clear: it was never a question of desire or commitment. Cavani exhausted every medical option available, from injections to surgery, without managing to reverse a pain that became impossible to manage on the field.