Former Man Utd forward Edinson Cavani booed by own fans and urged to retire
Edinson Cavani is still playing for Boca Juniors at 39, but has been urged to hang up his boots as his own fans turn against him.
The iconic forward, who has won 136 caps for Uruguay, has been with Boca since 2023, signing from Valencia.
His time in Argentina has been badly hampered by injuries, although did have a good 2024 season, scoring 20 goals in 39 appearances in all competitions.
Cavani has not recaptured that form since, partly due to fitness issues, and was booed by his own fans on Friday as he made his first start since September.
Boca drew the match 0-0 with Racing Club and the reception for Cavani was not good.
It was so bad that Argentina legend and former Boca Juniors, Real Madrid and River Plate star, Oscar Ruggeri, has implored Cavani to retire due to the ‘sin’ of him being abused by his own fans.
‘He has to stop playing,’ Ruggeri said, via Marca. ‘It’s a sin that this star is insulted in that way [booed] with the immense career he has.
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‘I don’t know him, we met two or three times, but it hurts me to see him.
‘It’s tough to play in Argentina these days at 40. For me, he’s not making the decision [to retire] because he wants to keep trying to turn things around and leave.’
It is not the first time Ruggeri has encouraged Cavani to consider his future, saying that he has been too good a player to end his career in sad circumstances.
‘I know he wants to turn the situation around and wants to do well, that he came to Boca and succeeded. But he has to seriously think about what he can do because his body is struggling,’ the 64-year-old said in January.
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‘He plays a little while, maybe misses a goal, and I see some people laughing, others teasing him, and I think he is so great that he has to make the decision himself, not us. He has to make the decision that if his body can’t take it anymore, this is as far as he goes.
‘The career he had, what more is it going to give him? It’s saying this is as far as he goes. He is not in debt. He came, tried to do it, but physically he couldn’t.
‘But when these things happen, notice that every time he’s about to start, something else happens. These are signals that football is giving him, that you have to make the most difficult decision we football players have, which is to say this is as far as I go.’
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Article source: https://metro.co.uk/2026/02/25/former-man-utd-forward-edinson-cavani-booed-fans-urged-retire-27110882/