Tevez quits Argentina football, keeps quiet on retirement

BUENOS AIRES: Veteran Argentina great Carlos Tevez announced on Friday he was quitting Boca Juniors and would no longer play football in his homeland, but stopped short of officially retiring.

The 37-year-old said he was leaving Boca, his beloved home club — he said “my blood isn’t red, it’s blue and yellow” — to spend more time with his family.

“My career in Argentina is finished. I always said the only club I would ever play for (here) is Boca, without a doubt,” said Tevez at a press conference at the club’s head office.

The former Manchester United, Manchester City and Juventus forward lost his adoptive father Segundo Tevez in February after he contracted Covid-19 at age 58.

“Boca asks you to give the maximum and mentally I’m not in a condition to do so. I didn’t even have time to mourn my father and already I was playing again — that’s what Boca demands,” he said, breaking down in tears.