By Humberto Viera
06 Oct 2023, 09:03 AM EDT
Argentine Sergio “Chiquito” Romero, goalkeeper of Boca Juniors, became a hero to give Boca Juniors a place in the final of the Copa Libertadores after five years, by beating Palmeiras on penalties in Brazil.
After a match that completed its regulation and complementary times with a 1-1 draw, the semifinal had to be decided from eleven steps, an instance in which Romero seems to grow. After having saved two penalties and ensuring Boca’s qualification for the final, Romero confessed that penalty shootouts are “like fun” for him.
“It’s cute. I am 36 years old and I am in a moment where I like to have fun and for me, when we go to penalties, it is like fun. “I’m happy,” Romero said in statements to ESPN Brazil.
Romero stopped the shots of Raphael Veiga and the Paraguayan Gustavo Gómez in the penalty shootout, in addition to several interventions that kept Boca alive during regulation time, especially when Xeneize was left with one less player after the expulsion of Marcos Rojo.
“We work a lot. The group of goalkeepers is very important, very good, very healthy people and that helps a lot when competing,” explained Romero.
Boca will fight for its seventh Copa Libertadores on November 4 at the Maracaná stadium in Rio de Janeiro against Fluminense, which eliminated Internacional from Porto Alegre in the semis.
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