Argentine football giants Boca Juniors announced on Tuesday they sacked head coach Fernando Gago, after their 2-1 loss to River Plate in Sunday’s Superclásico.

The news was confirmed in the morning by Mauricio “Chicho” Serna, of Boca’s professional footballing council, from the club’s training ground in Ezeiza.

“We wanted to announce we’ve made a decision, this is the end for Fernando Gago and his staff in the club,” he said.

He added that the board “did not come to the decision easily” as Gago is “a man of the house,” but that they made their choice in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

“It’s a decision we take very calmly,” he said. “We want it to be known that we’re very grateful [with Gago] because he dedicated himself to this job. Some situations have led us to take this decision, but we’ll remain forever thankful.”

The club later confirmed that current reserve team head coach Mariano Herrón will serve his fourth tenure as interim coach, as he did before Gago arrived.

Gago’s sacking has proved controversial. The former Racing and Chivas de Guadalajara boss arrived in October 2024, overseeing 30 games as Boca coach. He accrued 17 wins, five ties and eight defeats. Boca is currently the leader in group A of the 2025 Torneo Apertura. The Xeneize has won eight of its 10 Liga Profesional games and is already qualified to the play-off stage that will determine the champion. 

However, a number of tough defeats and eliminations put him on thin ice. 

First, it was a loss against Vélez Sarsfield in the 2024 Copa Argentina semi finals in November. At the time, the tournament was Boca’s only chance for a title; lifting the trophy would also have secured a 2025 Copa Libertadores group stage spot for the Xeneize. Gago’s team rallied from two goals down to take the lead 3-2, but then conceded twice in the span of five minutes to be ousted.

That forced Boca to go through the Libertadores qualification stages, where Gago faced perhaps the biggest blow to his tenure. After losing 1-0 away to Peru’s Alianza Lima, the Xeneize won the second leg 2-1 at La Bombonera. The tie was only enough to send the series to a penalty shootout, where they were eliminated.

That cost Boca a potential US$6.6 million in prize money, and the chance to compete to lift a record-tying seventh Copa Libertadores.