Boca 'Bad Boys' Tevez and Riquelme call a truce to bring glory days back to Bombonera

Hollywood is full of uneasy pairings who have to put aside their differences for the greater good.

From Riggs and Murtagh cursing their way through gunfights in Lethal Weapon, to Martin Lawrence and Will Smith's Marcus and Mike cursing their way through gunfights in Bad Boys, in movies a little tension is crucial to beating the bad guys and coming out unscathed.

Down in the Bombonera, Boca Juniors are hoping their own bickering double-act will restore the club's glory days.

Juan Roman Riquelme and Carlos Tevez have had more than a few clashes in the past, but they have struck an uneasy truce as the Xeneize look to topple their arch-rivals River Plate and get their hands on the Superliga trophy.

A Riquelme-Tevez showdown had been anticipated ever since the former took up his post as second vice-president at Boca in December, after the ticket headed by Jorge Amor Ameal ended more than two decades of dominance by candidates linked to former Boca and Argentina president Mauricio Macri and won the elections by a landslide – thanks in no small part to the huge following Roman still commands at the club.

Those 24 years of Macrism have seen Boca grow into a commercial behemoth, while simultaneously losing ground to River on the field, especially in continental clashes, where the nightmare of 2018's Copa Libertadores final defeat still rankles.

The arrival of Riquelme as overall football supremo at the club aims to redress that balance. His first challenge: placate fellow Boca legend Tevez, who is intimately linked with the previous administration and was widely tipped to leave the Bombonera should Macri-backed candidate Christian Gribaudo fail to win the presidency.

Riquelme and Tevez have also clashed personally over the years, perhaps unsurprising given the considerable egos in play on both sides.

“On the pitch [Riquelme] was an idol but he leaves a lot to be desired off it,” Tevez said of his former Boca and Argentina team-mate in 2017 when he received criticism for his decision to leave the Xeneize for China.

“When Riquelme had to leave Boca, he left. He went to Barcelona and then Villarreal, then he was out of contract, came back to Boca and had to win the Libertadores so Boca would buy him again.

"It's easy to talk from the outside and one of the things Riquelme is criticised for is that when Boca lose and River win, he comes out talking.”

For his part, Riquelme had been a vocal, consistent detractor of Boca throughout the presidency of Ameal's predecessor Daniel Angelici, and just days after taking over the vice-presidency questioned Tevez's will to keep playing.

“I want to look him in the eye and find out what he wants,” he told reporters in December. “In my neighbourhood I used to play football and I think he did the same, but I think he lost his appetite to play two years ago.

“We want to see if we are capable of getting Carlitos back so he can enjoy himself and make us enjoy ourselves.”

At 35, Tevez's future looked far from certain. But, on Sunday, he took his place in new coach Miguel Angel Russo's starting line-up for Boca's first Superliga game of 2020, playing 84 minutes of a dour 0-0 draw at home to Independiente.

Now, despite initial rumours to the contrary – including a bizarre report linking Tevez with a return to Manchester United – he is set to stay at Boca for some time yet, having patched up that rocky relationship with Roman.

“I spoke to Roman, as I have always said we owed each other a chat between the two,” Tevez said to reporters in January. “We fixed things in five minutes, we told each other the things we had to say, something which will remain private, but stay calm, everything is good.”

While it is certainly good news for Boca that this most fractious of relationships has been repaired, there are also more pragmatic motivations behind this detente.

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The Xeneize, like most Superliga clubs, have been hit hard by the economic crisis that has gripped Argentina for the last two years, meaning transfer activity this summer has been almost non-existent.

While the likes of Paolo Guerrero, Carlos Zambrano, Marcos Acuna and Edwin Cardona were all rumoured to be joining in January, so far only Pol Fernandez has arrived to boost a squad that looks almost identical to that which finished 2019 with another painful Copa defeat to River.

Boca additionally lost Roma legend Daniele De Rossi to retirement and could yet see more players leave before the transfer window closes.

While Tevez's best days may be well behind him and completing 90 minutes gets harder with every passing game, he is still capable of lending a touch of class to a forward line that in his absence is noticeably unimaginative and one-dimensional.

Goals have been scarce around the Bombonera, with just 19 in 17 Superliga fixtures to date, meaning that any striker is welcome right now.

The one thing that unites Riquelme and Carlitos, and always has, is the pair's love for Boca.

Just three points behind River at the league summit, the pair will leave no stone unturned on and off the pitch in order to unseat the Millonarios and regain the title they lifted in 2018 – not to mention mounting their latest challenge for the Libertadores, which has remained elusive since 2007, when Riquelme dragged his team to glory.

If that means swallowing one's pride and entering a rather uncomfortable marriage of convenience, it appears to be a price this odd couple is willing to pay.

How long this truce will last, of course, is still anyone's guess. What's clear, though, is that everyone at the Bombonera will be hoping for the classic Hollywood happy ending for Boca's very own odd couple.