While the European season is winding down, over in Argentina competition is only just heating up.

The domestic Copa Liga Profesional enters its final, play-off stages following this weekend’s round of group fixtures, while the Copa Libertadores first round has already passed its halfway point as South America’s strongest teams vie for a spot in the last 16.

But while there may be some way to go in both tournaments, Juan Sebastian Veron’s Estudiantes team are ideally placed to make a big challenge both at home and abroad.

Veron lives and breathes Estudiantes. His father, Juan Ramon, was an idol of the club back in their golden era of the 1960s and 70s.

The midfielder sealed his own place in club history when he lifted the Libertadores himself in 2009 at the age of 34, having returned three years earlier following a successful spell in Europe with the likes of Parma, Lazio, Inter, Manchester United and Chelsea.

Even after hanging up his boots there was no keeping him away from the La Plata side. Just six months after retiring, in December 2014, Veron enjoyed a landslide election victory to take over as Estudiantes’ president, a position he occupied until May 2021 when, due to term limits, he stepped down to vice-president on a non-contested unity ticket headed by Martin Gorostegui while still retaining significant control over the side’s day-to-day running.

His tenure has been a rousing success on an institutional level – most notably completing the team’s venerable home stadium after 10 years of exile due to remodelling – but had been lacking on the sporting side, with the club finishing without a win in 2020’s Copa Maradona following the pandemic-induced recess and a lowly 13th in the league season prior to Covid.

To turn things around, Veron turned to a familiar face; indeed, an old friend of the family.