Jonathan Calleri will be one of the main protagonists in the clash between Bocaand São Paulo in the quarter-finals of the Copa Sudamericana. The Argentine forward, captain of the Brazilian team and with a past at Xeneize, will return to La Bombonera after more than a decade and will face for the first time the club where he took his first important steps as a scorer.
The Brazilian team's qualification was secured with a 3-1 victory over Bolívar at Morumbí, after a 1-1 draw in La Paz. Calleri played a decisive role by converting a penalty for the 2-1 that put his team back in the lead and paved the way for a series that ended with Dorival Júnior's team among the eight best in the tournament.
After the match, the striker did not hide his excitement for what is to come. "It's going to be a very special match for me. I'm going back to La Bombonera after eleven years. My whole family will be there and I have many friends who are surely sending me messages", he expressed.
Calleri also highlighted the difficulty that the series will present and praised one of his most important coaches: "We're going to go there to try to win to come back here (to Morumbí)to decide the series. We know it will be difficult, they have a very good team, with a great coach, and we will do everything possible to achieve qualification".
That "great coach" is Rodolfo Arruabarrena, who coached Calleri during his time at Boca and was crucial in his development. The forward arrived at the club in mid-2014 from All Boys, during Carlos Bianchi's third cycle, but the departure of the Virrey quickly opened the door to a new stage. With Vasco, he found continuity, became a regular fixture in the team, and began to establish himself as the main striker of the team. After a year and a half at the club in La Ribera, at the beginning of 2016, he joined São Paulo.
Since then, the relationship with Boca has never completely faded. Calleri has been sought after on different occasions to return, including a recent effort by Arruabarrena's coaching staff, but the striker decided to continue with the Brazilian team. In fact, a few days ago he renewed his contract and extended his link untilDecember 2029.
Calleri was one of the offensive pillars of Boca between 2014 and 2016
Now established as a reference for the Tricolor paulista, where he has accumulated more than 260 matches and almost 100 goals, Calleri will return to the stadium that saw him grow as a footballer. This time he will do so wearing another jersey and with a very different objective: to eliminate Boca and take São Paulo to the semifinals of the Sudamericana.
Calleri's numbers at Boca
In his year and a half cycle (July 2014 to December 2015) with the Xeneize jersey, the Buenos Aires native played 4,317 minutes, spread over 61 matches, in which he scored 23 goals, provided 12 assists, and received 7 yellow cards and 1 direct red card. In terms of titles, he won 2: Primera División 2015 and Copa Argentina 2015.
