Boca Juniors will visit Belgrano fresh from their semi-final win over Palmeiras in the Copa Libertadores. When Boca Juniors visit Estadio Julio Cesar Villagra on Tuesday for a match with Belgrano in the second phase of the Argentine Primera Division season, they can improve their prospects of competing in that league again next year. El Celeste is in second place in Group B after seven games. They are two points behind Central Cordoba after a 0-0 draw at Talleres, while Boca is in last place. They have seven points from seven games and four points out of the second round of the Libertadores.
Preview (Belgrano vs. Boca Juniors)
Belgrano had a miserable end to the league season’s first half. They going without a goal in their final six games and picking up just two points. This round, however, the team has looked completely different domestically. They have gone unbeaten in seven straight games and conceded no goals in their last four. In their first campaign in the Argentine top division since 2018–19, Guillermo Farre’s team has shown throughout the 2023 season that they belong among the big boys in the Primera Division. They are presently just a point behind a spot in the Copa Sudamericana for next year. Belgrano is among the best-organized teams in the top league, yet they are not the most aggressive.
El Pirata has performed best at home, where they have scored six goals at Estadio Julio Cesar Villagra. It gave them the second-most goals in Group B overall. Since losing 1-0 to San Lorenzo on matchday 25 in the first round, Belgrano has not given up a goal. Belgrano has also only trailed once in this round. Itt was for less than 10 minutes on matchday two (2-2 draw at San Lorenzo). Despite their strong performance so far, they have lost opportunities to move up the table. They have blown two second-half leads against San Lorenzo and Newell’s Old Boys (1-1) and dropped four points.
Xeneize has a chance to break Brazil’s Copa Libertadores domination and become the first team since 2018 to win the prestigious trophy while competing outside of the Brasileiro Serie A. However, Jorge Almiron’s team has a lot of domestic work to do first as they now lie fourth from the bottom. Before they can think about tying Independiente for the most Libertadores titles, they have a lot of work to do. Boca Juniors has now lost 13 games through 34 league games across phases one and two this season. It is five more losses than they had in 2022. All nine losses came after this club gave up the first goal. Xeneize failed to score in 10 of those situations.
Team News
Due to a muscle injury, Matias Garcia is not anticipated to return to the Belgrano squad until mid-October. From matchday six to matchday seven, they only made one change to their starting lineup, with Facundo Lencioni replacing Lautaro Pastran. As El Celeste has only scored in three of their games this round without Pablo Vegetti, who was loaned to Vasco da Gama in August after scoring 12 goals for Belgrano in the first half of the Primera campaign, Nahuel Losada has posted four straight clean sheets domestically, so they have needed him to be sharp in goal.
Lucas Passerini, Matias Marin, and Alejandro Rebola were the last players to score for them in this competition when they defeated Platense 3-0 on matchday five, accounting for half of their goals in the second round. Only Sergio Romero and Marcelo Weigandt from Boca continued to play the entire 90 minutes in both their home loss to River Plate and their 1-1 draw against Lanus on matchdays six and seven of the Primera Division. As a result of his, Lucas Blondel, and Dario Benedetto each scoring in their lone league victory away from home in this stage—a 3-0 triumph against Central Cordoba—Lucas Janson has scored in two of their previous three domestic matches.
Belgrano 1 – 0 Boca Juniors
For more football previews, click here
