Daniele De Rossi marked his Boca Juniors debut with a goal in a dream start to his career with the Argentine giants, reports Goal.The Italian legend opened the scoring in his first match for the Argentine club during the Copa Argentina encounter.
De Rossi, 36, joined Boca last month after ending an 18-year stay with boyhood club Roma in Serie A.
The midfielder had an instant impact in his first competitive match for the club, heading in the opening goal against Almagro in the Copa Argentina on Tuesday. De Rossi got on the end of a corner from Alexis Mac Allister in the 28th minute to put Boca ahead at Estadio Ciudad de La Plata to rapturous applause from the home fans His strike came in the round of 32 of the cup, with Boca bidding to win the tournament for a fourth time - having lifted the trophy in 1969, 2012-13 and 2014-15.
The former Italy international only scored 63 goals in 616 games for Roma, but made a dream goalscoring start to life at Boca.
The dream debut then turned into something of a nightmare. Facing second-tier side Almagro, De Rossi was booked in the first half after scoring his opener and was taken off in the 77th minute with his side still clinging to a 1-0 lead.
The lead wouldn't hold, with Juan Manuel Martínez netting for Almargro to pull the lower-league side level, with the match going all the way to penalties. Almargro would pull out the shock win in the shootout, with Carlos Tevez the only Boca player to net from the spot as the Argentine giants fell 3-1.
When he decided to sign for Boca in July, De Rossi said he had chosen to continue his career with the craziest fans in football.
"These days I think I want to be inside this stadium, to know deeply what it means," he told reporters when he committed his future the Argentine club. "The reception at the airport was incredible. I can't thank you enough other than by doing my job as seriously as I can. I have to be serious to show that we all made a good choice."
