Gago on ropes after Boca's stinging Libertadores defeat

Fernando Gago's tenure at Boca Juniors feels like it only just began. But the coach will have to do something spectacular at La Bombonera, and fast, if he does not wish for the abiding image of his reign to be that glimpsed on Tuesday evening: head in hands, slumped on the bench and seemingly resigned to his fate as he oversaw one of the worst results in Xeneize history. This historic Copa Libertadores team, five-time champions, has seen its interest in the competition terminated almost before it had even started.

It was a damning indictment of everyone connected to Boca. One of the most expensively assembled teams the club has ever boasted fell on penalties to lowly Alianza Lima, who fielded not one but two attackers aged 40 or over at La Bombonera and were even generous enough to give the home team a head start, when defender Miguel Trauco somehow contrived to scuff Marcelo Saracchi's cross past his own goalkeeper just five minutes in to cancel out the lead Néstor Gorosito's charges had fought to claim in the Peruvian capital the previous week.

Not even that was enough for this shadow of a Xeneize team. One of Alianza's quadragenarian duo, Hernán Barcos, was on hand to restore the advantage minutes later. The quintessential journeyman forward, with stints in clubs ranging from Ecuador to Bangladesh and most of the nations to be found on the way in between, Barcos still has one attribute in his favour on the pitch, his towering height. Which made it all the more inexplicable that the former Racing academy product (a long, long time ago) was left entirely unmarked from an Alianza corner. He eagerly accepted the gift with a trademark bullet header.

Even when Boca fought back, they could barely help themselves. A sustained barrage in the second half finally paid off through sheer insistence when Kevin Zenón grabbed his own header. Just when Alianza were on the ropes and there for the taking, the Xeneize foolishly took the bait (they always do) in the face of provocation from the visitors and sparked a mass brawl which – though limited to a lot of shouting and shoving and a flurry of yellow cards – killed the momentum of the game and allowed the Peruvians to regroup in front of their own net.

Nor was Gago blameless in letting the game go to penalties: he refused to take off a clearly flagging, out-of-form Edinson Cavani and was left to rue that decision when the Uruguayan missed an open goal deep in injury time that would have sealed qualification. From that point on, the coach looked crushed. Throughout the shootout that followed he barely looked up as the first nine penalties all found their mark. The decisive miss, from US$10-million summer signing Alan Velasco, seemed all but inevitable by the time the ex-Independiente man dragged his effort into the arms of Alianza's hero Guillermo Viscarra between the posts.

Not only will there be no Libertadores for Boca this year, there will be no Sudamericana either. This expensively assembled group of should-be aces will have to settle for slogging it out in the Liga and Copa Argentina, as well as June's jaunt to the Club World Cup – a feat of qualification achieved under rather dubious merits if we are to be frank. Will Gago even still be there in three months?

The coach spoke after Tuesday's meltdown of his willingness to take the club forward. But the damage may have been done. Nobody doubts his knowledge of the tactical side of the game, and he had shown enough bright spots while in charge of Aldosivi and Racing to suggest he could make a good fist of life at Boca. The way in which he crumbled under the pressure as penalties approached, however, is a serious indictment of Gago's mentality and one which, after several similar situations at La Academia, will need to be addressed if he wishes to bounce back from this disaster. 

For now the jury is out on this unconvincing Boca team, who will carry the sting of this historic setback for a long time yet.