Boca Juniors striker Carlos Tevez revealed on Saturday that he kissed Diego Maradona on the mouth for good luck before leading his team to the Argentinian Primera Division title on Saturday.
Tevez was the man of the match after scoring the winner in the 72nd-minute to defeat Maradona’s Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata 1-0. The win also helped Boca win the title after River Plate played a 1-1 draw with Atletico Tucuman.
The Argentine forward finished the regular season with nine goals from 17 appearances and his contract will expire at the end of June. Tevez will be hoping the club chiefs will reward him with a short-term deal.
Boca ended the Superliga season with 14 wins from their 23 games, losing just three times as they pipped River Plate to the domestic title. The club also remarkably conceded just eight goals during their league campaign – six fewer than the next best defensive record.
Speaking after the game, Tevez, who played for both Manchester United and City, disclosed he was seeking luck from the Argentine legend before the match and he got it. Tevez also commended Boca’s second vice-president Juan Roman Riquelme for helping the team win the title.
“Roman is very important, it was very clear from the first talk. He also helped me a lot to find that Carlitos, this is the reward,” Tevez said, via Ole.
“Roman in the box, me making a goal.
“I knew I had to kiss Diego, I was lucky that way…sometimes you have to look for luck.”
Tevez’s 20-yard effort proved to be the winner after Gimnasia goalkeeper Jorge Broun failed to keep out the former West Ham striker. The 36-year-old said he was happy to move Boca onto 34 titles – two short of River’s all-time record of 36 and desperate to deliver success for his side.
“I was hungry for glory again. I think I felt again that I had to go back to my neighbourhood, that I had to get off a lot of things and fight like the kid who fought when I was a kid,” he said.
“It was two or three years of fighting against my head, against a lot of things. I always kept working, trying to get out of that well, it was very difficult for me to get out, to get back to my roots.
“It was as I was telling you, I needed to go back to be hungry for glory. I found myself at the right time.”
The former Argentina international began his senior career with Boca in 2001 as a 16-year-old and his latest success 20 years later might mark the perfect time to hang up the boots.
While the league season has finished, Boca still face a busy few months as they compete in the group stages of both Copa de la Superliga and the Libertadores.
