- Rojo forced to drop name from his shirt
- Joined Racing Club last Sunday
- Rivalry reasons behind change
Rojo joined Racing Club as a free agent after Boca Juniors terminated his contract due to disciplinary reasons. Boca Juniors took the extreme step after freezing the defender out of the first team and banning him from the dressing room for an alleged bust-up with team-mates Cristian Lema and Marcelo Saracchi. On Sunday, the former Manchester United defender penned a one-year deal at Racing Club.
According to The Sun Rojo, who is known for flaunting his full name on the back of his shirts as he did at United and Boca, won’t be able to do the same at his new team due to a hilariously petty rivalry issue. Racing’s city rivals Independiente use the nickname El Rojo, which means ‘The Reds’. To avoid promoting their rivals’ name, the club asked Rojo not to use that name on his new kit. He will instead don ‘Marcos R.’.
Rojo spent seven years at Old Trafford and won several trophies, including the FA Cup, Carabao Cup and Europa League. During his eight-year stint in the Argentina national team, he earned 61 caps and finished as a runner-up at the 2014 World Cup and 2015 and 2016 editions of the Copa America.
The 35-year-old could make his debut on Wednesday as Racing Club face Penarol in the first leg of their CONMEBOL Libertadores round of 16 clash.
