Ex-Manchester United and City star Carlos Tevez set to start Copa Libertadores final second leg – a decade after winning the Champions League
El Apache has reinvigorated his sublime career during a third spell at Boca and helped his boyhood club win league title after rejoining the side in January
BOCA JUNIORS legend Carlos Tevez is in contention to start for the Buenos Aires side against bitter rivals River Plate in the second leg of the Copa Libertadores final on Saturday.
After a bitter season in China, El Apache has reinvigorated his stellar career at Boca and may now help his boyhood club win the prestigious South American competition for the second time - and 10 years after triumphing with Manchester United in the Champions League.
Tevez rejoined Xeneizes in January this year for the third time in his career after his big-money move to Chinese Shanghai Shenhua a year before turned sour.
The striker, 34, who earlier this year admitted he never liked football, found passion for the game at his childhood club again and helped Boca win the Argentinian league for the second time in a row last season.
Tevez has scored six goals and added three assists since his comeback to Argentina, taking a super-sub role as he has not yet featured from the first minute for Boca in Copa Libertadores.
Despite playing a secondary role, he's already made an impact scoring a crucial goal against Palmeiras in the Copa Libertadores group stage - and Boca manager Guillermo Barros Schelotto revealed he might use Tevez's experience in the key match against River Plate.
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He said: "We will work on that and then we will decide.
"People's love for Tevez is huge, it is endless because it comes from the deepest [part of] their heart.
"There is a chance [he could start]. The last time he entered the pitch against River he did very well and he made an important impression on the final. We are going to analyse it in the next week."
The Argentinian has an impressive resume having played, and won titles, for a number of European giants.
Tevez has won three Premier League titles, two with Manchester United and one with Manchester City, as well as triumphed in the Champions League with Red Devils in 2009.
He was also Premier League's top scorer in the 2010/11 season netting 20 goals for Citizens, same as Dimitar Berbatov for United.
After moving to Juventus in 2013 he added further two league trophies to his collection, scooping Juventus' player of the season award in both seasons spent in Italy.
Tevez also headlined the exodus of football stars from the West to China in 2017 and was made world's most paid footballer alongside fellow Argentinian Ezequiel Lavezzi - earning staggering £634,00 a week.
The striker, however, was struggling with injuries and overweight - and referred himself to the time spent in China as 'holiday'.
Tevez eventually finished his only season at Shanghai with four goals in 20 games.