River’s Stories That Left Their Mark | A Book Reflecting 50 Years of the Núñez Institution

The First Reported Player

The development of the 1975 Metropolitan Championship also offered curious scenes, beyond River’s ability to break an 18-year title drought. The Superclásico duel against Boca, at La Bombonera, was marked by a lethal blow between two rivals.

Boca’s defender Roberto Rogel delivered a tremendous elbow to the visiting forward Carlos Morete, unnoticed by referee Roberto Goicochea. VAR was far from existence, and Rogel continued to play. It was Morete who had to leave, having already opened the scoring for River, but he had to exit the field to be taken to a hospital.

The consequence of this action was the first “official report” for a football player. The fact is that the Boca defender continued playing as a starter until the end of the first half of that tournament, and was later transferred to Tigres in Mexico.

On April 17 of that year, nearly 40,000 general tickets had been sold, marking a turning point for River, as the team managed by Angel Labruna celebrated a victory against their eternal rival after nine years.

This Superclásico, in the 15th round of the Metropolitan, was one of the five most-watched in history, though not the only one played that season, as both teams met four times, with two victories for each side, interestingly with both victories occurring away from home.

River was among the top three teams selling tickets that year. Even Isabel Perón, who was in charge of the presidency after the General’s death, had ordered the live broadcast of the match on television.

Just six minutes into the match, following a high ball, Morete scored with a header that was unreachable for goalkeeper Rubén Sánchez. A moment later, at the 23rd minute, Norberto Alonso extended the lead with a great free kick at the Casa Amarilla goal. Sánchez dove but was unable to divert the ball.

Boca, then managed by Rogelio Domínguez, was awarded two penalties. In the first, towards the end of the first half, Marcelo Trobbiani converted to reduce the deficit. In the second, just a minute into the second half, Boca had another similar call, and Trobbiani executed again. This time, the midfielder squandered the chance to equalize as the shot was saved by Fillol.

Argentinian football at that time tolerated rough play. This context led to the incident that sidelined Morete. To protect the lead, Labruna substituted Reinaldo Merlo in for Morete. The one who ended up being sent off that day was Miguel Nicolau, towards the end, for a heavy foul on Alonso.

Morete, who started playing for River at age 12, scored 105 official goals in 195 matches and was sold to Las Palmas for $400,000. “Years go by and I never forget the elbow to my temple that Rogel hit me with at Boca’s field. While it was just part of the game, I never left a field unconscious like that time when I was taken to the hospital. I had scored a goal in the first half, and then, after that action, I felt the impact and woke up in the locker room with my father crying next to the stretcher,” Morete recounted many years later, after retiring from the game. He was the only player to win AFA tournaments with four different jerseys: River (1975), Boca (1981), Independiente (1983), and Argentinos Juniors (1984 and 1985).

At the end of the match, Boca’s fans left singing: “Bread and wine, bread and wine, bread and wine, bread and wine; ask Morete how the Mendoza man strikes.”

The temperamental Rogel, who played 281 matches for Boca, won three titles, and scored 17 goals, later claimed he did not remember the incident well. “The punch on Morete? I don’t remember. A part of the press was out to get me, and then I received an automatic sanction 20 days after the match. Still, I had few expulsions throughout my years playing for Boca,” he explained.

The Memory of the Great Scorer

Juan Gilberto Funes made significant history at River. His time at the club, from 1986 to 1987, was extraordinary: he only scored five goals, one in the domestic league and four in international competitions. Known as “the Buffalo” due to his physical stature of over 90 kilos, he scored in both finals of the first Copa Libertadores won by the club: in the 2-1 victory against América de Cali in Colombia, and the 1-0 win in Buenos Aires in October 1986.

He debuted at the Núñez club in September 1986. He was 23 years old and had just celebrated goals at Millonarios in Bogotá. Until then, he had been relatively unknown in Argentina. His career began at Huracán de San Luis, Sarmiento de Junín (where he was a backup to Ricardo Gareca and never debuted), Jorge Newbery and Estudiantes (both from San Luis), and Gimnasia y Esgrima de Mendoza. Between the National tournaments of 1983 and 1984, he played 14 matches and scored eight goals, enough to move to Colombia.

At River, he would also become a world champion in December 1986, and win a third international title in August 1987, the Inter-American Cup. He left the club abruptly in December. He went to Europe but struggled: at Olympiakos in Greece he did not adapt and played very little. At Nantes in France, he never debuted.

Funes returned to Vélez for the 1989/90 season and regained his form: he played 25 matches and scored 12 goals. He played his last game for the Liniers team on May 13, 1990, in a 1-0 loss to Ferro. The club could not renew his contract nor buy his rights, and during the World Cup in Italy, Funes began training with Boca. He even did preseason with Carlos Aimar‘s team in the hills of Huerta Grande, Córdoba.

All that was left was the official signature. The agreement between Funes’ representative, businessman Carlos Quieto, and Boca was particular: in case of a European offer, he could accept it. And that opportunity came with Nice. The former River idol traveled to France, and in the first practices, he earned everyone’s admiration. But shortly before the start of the 1990/91 season, he was informed that heart tests had shown concerning results and that the transfer would not go through.

The player returned to Argentina to train with Boca, but everything revolved around his heart condition. Cardiologists explained that Funes suffered from aortic insufficiency. One doctor stated that, in contrast to the 225 grams of a normal ventricular mass, Funes’ weighed 800 grams. His heart was too large.

Despite this, the transfer was announced on September 13, 1990, and it made the front page of the newspapers the next day, with the club’s official gear, inside La Bombonera. It was also revealed that FIFA had sent Boca a report warning about the player’s critical condition.

The forward played a friendly match against Banfield, before an audience in La Bombonera. It was announced that he would sit on the bench on Sunday, September 23, against River at the Monumental, but he never made it: his abnormal heart was truly exhausted.

After a training session, he felt a pain in his chest and became alarmed. On Thursday, September 27, at the Hospital Italiano, his diagnosis was finalized. “Funes, what do you prefer, life or football?” the specialists asked him after confirming he suffered from aortic insufficiency.

The following year, from September 6 to November 7, 1991, he underwent four surgeries in Mendoza to replace the aortic valve, the source of his heart problem. He had become a different Funes: he had lost 14 kilos. On the first weekend of 1992, “the Buffalo” developed a fever and became unstable.

On January 6, he was urgently transported by private plane from Mendoza to Buenos Aires. He entered Sanatorio Güemes unconscious. Five days later, on Saturday, January 11, he entered the operating room for his fifth and final heart surgery. Funes died eight hours later, in the early hours of Sunday, January 12, 1992. He was only 28 years old. His heart ended both his career and then his life.

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