Dubai: If you’re a fan of Argentina’s Boca Juniors the two most important things in life are beating your Buenos Aires rivals River Plate and winning South America’s pinnacle club prize, the Copa Libertadores.

Failing on both counts at the same time after getting knocked out in the Last 16 by eventual champions River last year arguably cost Rodolfo Arruabarrena his job, despite the fact he went onto secure a domestic league and cup double with Azul y Oro (the Blue and Gold).

The fact Los Millionarios (The Millionaires) technically didn’t beat Boca makes it all the more incredulous.

River led 1-0 from the first leg, but the second leg at Boca’s La Bombonera (Chocolate Box) stadium was abandoned at 0-0 when Boca fans attacked River’s players with pepper spray as they returned to the pitch for the second half.

Boca were disqualified and River progressed to the final where they beat Mexico’s Tigres UANL 3-0.

It came just five months after River had also won the Copa Sudamerica after beating Boca 1-0 in the semi-final.

And with these two continental setbacks to his name, Arruabarrena’s card was marked. After starting the following season with just seven points from the first five games he was sacked and replaced by Guillermo Barros Schelotto in February after 18 months in charge.

Having been at Boca as a player for 15 years (1985-2000) since the age of 10 — going onto write himself into the history of the club with two goals in their 2000 Copa Libertadores win over Brazil’s Palmeiras — the 41-year-old former left-back must have left his childhood club with a heavy heart.

But if he did, he wasn’t letting that be known in a recent interview with Gulf News in Dubai, where he is now coach of Al Wasl having been appointed in June.

“Boca is my second home, I was born in Buenos Aires and started as a kid there, it shaped me as a player and a person,” said Arruabarrena, who was also part of Manuel Pellegrini’s Villareal side that reached the semi-final of the Uefa Champions League in 2005 before defeat to eventual losing finalists Arsenal.

“In football things happen that you may not like but the most important thing is that you can look back and see that you did your best and won titles. But there are moments when you have to finish and start afresh.

“In Argentina, if you win you are the best but if you lose you are nothing. Fans don’t look at what you did during the week but only the results at the weekend. If the results are not good but you are good with the players you will not stay.

“I feel the fans liked me but it was the decision of the President (Daniel Angelici). It’s true that River went on to win two titles but I didn’t see it as River has passed us and won so I must go.

“What happened in the second leg against River was beyond our control and extraneous to football, but that’s in the past and you can’t do anything about it,” he added of the pepper spray attack.

“Now we are in a different time and a different place, and just as my teams before have been at the top, the objective is to be there again with Al Wasl. But there’s no use saying it, we have to go out and prove it on the pitch.”

The Cheetahs finished sixth in the Arabian Gulf League last season with fellow Argentine coach Gabriel Calderon getting sacked in May after picking up just one win from their last seven games. The collapse saw them miss out on a top three finish thus Asian Champions League qualification by just four points.

“When I heard about the project here I thought the experience would be useful for me and my staff,” added Arruabarrena, who is busy preparing for the 2016/17 league season, which starts with an away trip to Al Jazira on September 17.

“We need to know if we can translate what we want on the pitch despite a different language and culture.

“We have the confidence to do that, and if I didn’t think we could succeed I would have stayed in Argentina.

“Other teams may have more money to spend, but I don’t care, when we get on the pitch it’s 11 against 11. And if we carry on working the way we have started I have no doubts that we can reach the top.”

Al Wasl haven’t won the league in nine years and since then 13 coaches have tried and failed, not least Arruabarrena’s former Boca teammate Diego Maradona, as well as other fellow Argentines Hector Cuper and Gabriel Calderon.

“I don’t feel pressure because I replaced Boca’s most successful manager of all-time Carlos Bianchi [and won two titles]. I work thinking about me.

“Maradona, Cuper and Calderon would have all had the same idea to be top, but it’s the idea of the players that is most important because they are the ones who decide what happens on the pitch.”