The 2nd of December 1996 is a date etched in the history of Argentine football folklore. For Boca Juniors fans perhaps they would like to remember it as the day that Mauricio Macri a distinguished figure in Boca’s history, assumed control as the club’s president. However, what’s more likely is that they will be unable to forget it for the same reason that Racing Club’s hinchas (and those of us who are neutrals alike) but perhaps not as fondly, that is for the incredible Boca Juniors 4 – Racing Club 6, played at La Bombonera stadium Buenos Aires.

Going into the 17th round of fixtures of the 1995 Torneo Apertura few (if any) would have predicted anything other than a comfortable victory over their “Big Five” rivals. Therefore, the upset on the day by Racing Club was of David vs Goliath proportions.

An all-star Boca Juniors containing not only a host of national stars the likes of Christian “Kily” Gonzalez, Claudio Caniggia (who missed out through injury) goalkeeper Navarro Montoya and Uruguayan frontman Sergio “Manteca” Martinez, had been topped off by the return of the legend that is Diego Armando Maradona.

Combine this to the fact that Los Xeineize headed into the fixture top of the table, undefeated, and having kept no fewer than 10 consecutive cleansheets, emphasize the incredibility of the achievement.

All you need is a touch of “Magic”

An adventurous Racing side would set the tone early on in the contest, led by their talismanic Ruben “El Mago” Capria. In fact it would take La Academia only 4 minutes to take the lead, Claudio “El Piojo” Lopez causing havoc on the wing. His cut-back was teed-up perfectly for Capria to power home a trademark thunderous left footed strike into the Boca net. Sensing blood, Miguel Angel Brindisi’s men would strike again. This time “El Mago” would be the provider, his pass putting Marcelo “El Chelo” Delgado clean through, who with a delightful chip would lift the ball over Montoya and double their lead. Two would almost immediately become three as Racing’s attacking line would combine to perfection again, Delgado creating for Lopez to finish first time. With barely a quarter of an hour played the Bombonera had been silenced.

To Boca’s credit, they would not lay down, and indeed would bring on Cameroonian striker Alfonse Tchami just 25 minutes, though it would be defender Carlos “El Colorado” Mac Acaliister who would reduce the deficit with a well taken header on the half-hour mark. Then on the stroke of half-time, Tchami was brought down in the box, and up stepped “El Diego” to make it Boca 2 – Racing 3, and set up a grandstand second half.

The second half, though, would prove to be much of the same, with Racing failing to read the script, and Capria in particular emerging as Boca’s chief tormentor. This time, it would take the Academia only 2 minutes from the restart to hammer home another long-range strike in to the far corner. And with barely an hour gone in the contest, Racing would make it 5, Capria this time with his head , finishing off some inventive build up play from Lopez and Nestor de Vicente.

With the game seemingly slipping out of their reach, Boca would once again show their renowned fighting spirit, Sergio “El Manteca” Martinez clinically finishing what seemed to be aimless long ball into the box, reducing the deficit to 3-5 with less than a quarter of an hour to go.

However, any hopes of another revival were dashed just 6 minutes later, “El Piojo” Lopez given time and space to pick his spot with an accurate finish from the edge of the box.

Incredibly, Brindisi’s Racing had not only broken Boca’s run of 10 clean-sheets in a row, they had in less than 90 minutes inflicted the same amount of goals as Silvio Marzolini’s men had conceded in their previous 16 fixtures combined!

With the game petering to a close, Dario Scotto would put a fourth on the board for Boca, taking the game’s total goals tally to an astonishing 10, and securing that the contest itself would long remain in the history books.

For those of you who haven’t had the pleasure of seeing the game, below is the match summary and Spanish language video for you to enjoy, discuss and share alike.

Summary:

Boca 4: Navarro Montoya; Soñora (53’ Pico), Medero (85′ Márcico), Fabbri, MacAllister; Saldaña (25′ Tchami), Giunta, C. González; Maradona; S. Martínez & Scotto.

Racing 6: I. González; Reinoso (71′ Viqueira), Costas, Galván, Zanetti; Facciuto, Quiroz (77′ Chacoma), Pompei; Capria; Delgado (54’ De Vicente) & López.

Referee: Javier Castrilli

Goal summary: 4′ Capria, 11′ Delgado, 13′ López, 30′ MacAllister, 44′ Maradona (penalti); 47’ y 60′ Capria, 78′ Martínez, 81′ López & 88′ Scotto.

Yellow Cards: None, Red Cards: 21′ Zanetti (Racing) & 35′ Giunta (Boca)