Antonio Rattín, emblem of Boca and the Argentine national team, dies

Antonio Ubaldo Rattín, defensive midfielder emblem of the Boca Juniors and the Argentine national team, died this Saturday at the age of 89, as reported by the club through a statement on its social networks.

“With great regret, we regret the death of Antonio Ubaldo Rattín, idol and emblem of our institution. We accompany his family and loved ones in this difficult time”expressed Boca in

“Goodbye, Rat”, Boca fired him, in reference to the nickname of the containment midfielder who, due to his leadership and fierce style, became one of the symbols of Xeneize, which in 2015 dedicated a statue to him located in the La Bombonera stadium.

In the Argentine national team he played 33 games and played in the World Cup. Chile 1962 and England 1966, edition in which he captained the team and starred in a historic episode in the match that the Albiceleste lost 1-0 against the locals in the quarterfinals.

Expelled in the 1966 World Cup despite there being no reds

During the match Rattín complained repeatedly to the German referee Rudolf Kreitleinwhich led to the referee’s decision to expel him, an unusual situation since until then yellow and red cards did not exist in the rules of international football.

In a packed Wembley stadium in London, the ‘Rat’ refused to leave the field for several minutes and even demanded an interpreter who would allow him to understand Kreitlein, until he left the grass in one of the corners and, in a gesture that would be recorded by the cameras, he crushed the corner pennant decorated with the colors of the British flag, which unleashed insults from the locals, who even threw objects at him.

The first episode of the Argentina-England rivalry

In this way, Rattín starred in the first episode that is remembered in the soccer classic between Argentina and England, years later enhanced by the armed conflict in the Malvinas Islands and the match that the South American team won in the Mexico World Cup 1986 with two unforgettable goals Diego Armando Maradona, one of them, with the ‘hand of God’ -.

After finishing his playing career, Rattín He was coach of Boca, Gimnasia y Esgrima de La Plata and Estudiantes de Río Cuarto, without great results.

He had a stint in national politics as a deputy of the Argentine Congress between 2001 and 2005 with the center-right party Unión Federalista, between 2005 and 2009 he was a councilor for the municipality of Vicente López, in the province of Buenos Aires.