Boca Juniors and River Plate will play a key Superclásico in the fight for the title – Diario La Página – 2024-09-23 02:10:56

Protagonists of a century-old rivalry full of historic clashes, Boca Juniors and River Plate will liven up another episode of the Argentine soccer Superclásico this Saturday at La Bombonera, on the fifteenth date of the professional league.

The duel between the most popular clubs in Argentina finds the eternal rivals tied in the standings with 21 points and far from the leader Vélez (30), although the climate is very different on both sides.

Boca, the home team, is coming off a 2-1 loss in a classic against Racing, which has once again left it far from the top spots, immersed in an irregular campaign, in which coach Diego Martínez has been left with little credit, so a win could help it regain support, but a fall at La Bombonera would have a very heavy cost for its continuity.

The blue and gold team is very strong at home, where they have won 13 of their last 17 games, but their play away from home has noticeably diminished, with three months without a win as a visitor (four draws and four losses) in their last away games.

Eliminated prematurely from the Copa Sudamericana in the round of 16, the Xeneize only have the Liga and the Copa Argentina left as their last options to celebrate and qualify for the next Copa Libertadores.

River Plate, on the other hand, is in the quarter-finals of the Libertadores, led by Marcelo Gallardo and with prospects of staying in the race after rescuing a 1-1 draw in the visit to Colo Colo of Chile.

River, alert
The superclásico finds Millonario in the middle of a cup series with expectations of qualifying for the semifinals in the rematch that will be played on Tuesday at the Monumental in Buenos Aires.

But in the meantime, Gallardo does not want to neglect the duel against his arch-rival, with the certainty that an away win could give him a huge boost in the final stretch of the championship.

The coach will most likely have to make changes to play at La Bombonera, since Maxi Meza is suffering from a muscle injury, and he must also evaluate which other players he should keep for the rematch against Colo Colo, which will take place just 72 hours after the superclásico. Finally, the Colombian Miguel Borja is in the squad.

The overall history between Boca and River in the local League includes 262 matches, with 92 wins for the Xeneizes, 86 for the Millonarios and 84 draws. The last clash was last April, in the quarter-finals of the League Cup, with the auriazules winning (3-2) in Córdoba.