Miguel Ángel Russo

Miguel Ángel Russo
	Russo in 2017.
Personal information
Full name	Miguel Ángel Russo
Date of birth	9 April 1956 (age 68)
Place of birth	Valentin Alsina, Argentina
Position(s)	Defensive midfielder
Team information
Current team	San Lorenzo (head coach)
Youth career
	Estudiantes
Senior career*
Years	Team
1975–1988	Estudiantes
International career
1983–1985	Argentina
Managerial career
1989–1994	Lanús
1994–1995	Estudiantes
1996	Universidad de Chile
1997–1998	Rosario Central
1998–1999	Salamanca
1999	Colón
1999–2000	Lanús
2000–2001	Los Andes
2002	Morelia
2002–2004	Rosario Central
2005–2006	Vélez Sarsfield
2007	Boca Juniors
2008–2009	San Lorenzo
2009	Rosario Central
2010–2011	Racing Club
2011	Estudiantes
2012–2014	Rosario Central
2015	Vélez Sarsfield
2016–2018	Millonarios
2019	Alianza Lima
2019	Cerro Porteño
2020–2021	Boca Juniors
2021–2022	Al-Nassr
2023–2024	Rosario Central
2024–	San Lorenzo
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 17:59, 18 January 2015 (UTC)

Miguel Ángel Russo (born 9 April 1956) is an Argentine professional football manager and former player who played as a defensive midfielder. He is the manager of San Lorenzo.

Playing career

Club career

Russo was a one club man; he played his entire career for Estudiantes de La Plata, from 1975 to his retirement in 1988. A defensive midfielder, Russo was a staple of the team that won two back-to-back championships in the 1982–83 season.

International career

Although Russo was called on by national team coach Carlos Bilardo to play in the 1986 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, a string of minor injuries prevented him from traveling to the main event in Mexico, which Argentina ultimately won.

Coaching career

His career as a coach included stints at Estudiantes de La Plata and Lanús (both of whom he helped promote), and other sides in Argentina, Mexico, Chile, and Spain.

In June 2005, he won the 2005 Clausura tournament with Vélez Sarsfield, his first title as a coach in the Argentine top division. On 15 December 2006, he was signed by Boca Juniors to replace Ricardo La Volpe.

With Russo at the helm, Boca Juniors took second place in the 2007 Clausura tournament and won the 2007 Copa Libertadores. After Boca, Russo managed San Lorenzo de Almagro between 2008 and 2009. After losing to San Luis and being eliminated from the Copa Libertadores, the coach has announced his decision to resign on 9 April 2009.^[1]

On 15 April 2009, Russo joined Rosario Central, replacing Reinaldo Merlo^[2] and just two months later on 14 July 2009 the coach quit the team.^[3]

The former midfielder then managed Racing Club between 2010 and 2011. On 21 June 2011, less than a week after resigning as coach of Racing Club, Russo signed a contract to again coach his former club, Estudiantes de La Plata, being his second stint as an Estudiantes coach, having done so in 1994.^[4]

On 6 November 2011, after Estudiantes was defeated 1–3 by Godoy Cruz and in turn falling to last place with only 10 points in 14 games, Russo resigned as manager, less than 5 months after having assumed charge.^[5] He then had a successful stint at Rosario Central, winning the 2012–13 Primera B Nacional and reaching the final of the 2013–14 Copa Argentina.

In 2015, Russo agreed to become manager of Vélez Sarsfield, his second spell at the club.

On 23 December 2016, he was chosen to train Millonarios F.C. from Bogotá, Colombia after the untimely departure of Diego Cocca. On 17 December 2017, he was crowned Champion of the second half of 2017 with Millonarios F.C. (Torneo Clausura), to which he gave them the title number 15 after winning the first leg 1–0, and then drawing 2–2 against Independiente Santa Fe. With this victory, Millonarios F.C. will go directly to the group stage of the Copa Libertadores played among the best club teams in South America.

On January 4, 2019, he is officially appointed as the new Alianza Lima coach. However, he decides to terminate his contract for personal reasons and poor results.

On June 7, 2019, his transfer to Cerro Porteño was made official. On October 6, 2019, after losing to Deportivo Capiatá, the club decides to do without its services.

In January 2020, he started his second cycle with Boca Juniors.^[6] two months later he obtained a new title winning the 2019-20 Superliga beating River Plate led by Marcelo Gallardo in the final stretch.^[7] After being eliminated by Santos (BRA) from the Conmebol Libertadores, Boca Juniors played Copa Diego Maradona final against Banfield. This match ended in a tie in one, and finally, Boca Juniors became champions by winning the penalties.^[8] On 17 August 2021 he was sacked by the club.^[9]

Russo spent most of the 2021–22 season in charge of Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia, before returning to Rosario Central on 18 December 2022.^[10]

Personal life

Russo's son, Ignacio, is a professional footballer.^[11]

Managerial statistics

As of match played 1 November 2024

Managerial record by team and tenure
Team	Nat	From	To	Record
Team	Nat	From	To	G	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Win %
Lanús		1 July 1989	30 June 1994	200	70	74	56	238	210	+28	035.00
Estudiantes LP		1 July 1994	30 September 1995	53	27	16	10	94	48	+46	050.94
Universidad de Chile		1 January 1996	31 December 1996	54	25	12	17	87	71	+16	046.30
Rosario Central		1 July 1997	30 June 1998	42	16	12	14	66	56	+10	038.10
Salamanca		1 August 1998	30 January 1999	16	4	4	8	20	24	−4	025.00
Colón		1 July 1999	31 October 1999	12	3	4	5	15	19	−4	025.00
Lanús		30 November 1999	30 June 2000	34	12	6	16	53	46	+7	035.29
Los Andes		1 December 2000	30 June 2001	26	6	6	14	33	49	−16	023.08
Morelia		27 October 2001	16 February 2002	15	5	4	6	19	18	+1	033.33
Rosario Central		1 July 2002	31 December 2004	67	25	20	22	93	89	+4	037.31
Vélez Sarsfield		1 January 2005	15 December 2006	95	43	29	23	134	87	+47	045.26
Boca Juniors		15 December 2006	31 December 2007	56	30	12	14	102	56	+46	053.57
San Lorenzo		1 July 2008	8 April 2009	36	17	5	14	56	44	+12	047.22
Rosario Central		16 April 2009	14 July 2009	11	5	2	4	12	11	+1	045.45
Racing Club		17 February 2010	30 June 2011	53	23	9	21	65	59	+6	043.40
Estudiantes LP		1 July 2011	6 November 2011	16	3	4	9	16	24	−8	018.75
Rosario Central		6 July 2012	29 November 2014	101	44	26	31	123	104	+19	043.56
Vélez Sarsfield		1 January 2015	31 December 2015	34	10	9	15	35	38	−3	029.41
Millonarios		1 January 2017	13 November 2018	112	45	37	30	134	93	+41	040.18
Alianza Lima		1 January 2019	26 April 2019	15	3	4	8	18	26	−8	020.00
Cerro Porteño		7 June 2019	8 October 2019	19	7	7	5	30	19	+11	036.84
Boca Juniors		1 January 2020	16 August 2021	64	29	23	12	87	40	+47	045.31
Al-Nassr		5 December 2021	28 June 2022	20	15	2	3	41	22	+19	075.00
Rosario Central		19 December 2022	2 August 2024	79	27	28	24	92	86	+6	034.18
San Lorenzo		17 October 2024	present	3	2	0	1	2	1	+1	066.67
Total				1,233	497	354	382	1,669	1,341	+328	040.31