The Argentine soccer Superclasico was dyed blue and gold. On the 15th date of the 2026 Apertura Tournament, Boca beat River 0-1 at Monumental with a penalty goal from Leandro Paredes and qualified for the Playoffs
.
The Millionaire would start the game with possession, but with little effectiveness, while Xeneize was left behind.
Despite this initial scenario, the first really dangerous chance would come on the visitor's side: at 10, Paredes sent a long pass for Miguel Merentiel to receive in the area, being neutralized just enough by Lucas Martínez Quarta. In addition to gradually starting to suffer several dangerous arrivals from their top rival, the Núñez club received very bad news in the first minutes of the match. In the middle of a dispute over the ball, Sebastián Driussi walked badly and felt muscle discomfort in his right leg, forcing Coudet to make an emergency change.
Instead of 9, which had been at an outstanding level after the arrival of Chacho, Maximiliano Salas entered. Towards the end of the first half, Salas himself had a strong shot that would go close to Leandro Bareiro's left corner. Minutes later, Boca would respond first with a shot from Merentiel that would kiss Santiago Beltrán's right stick and then with a shot from the Uruguayan himself that would hit Lautaro Rivero's arm, thus obtaining a penalty. The task of executing it would be Paredes, who would not fail and would decree 0-1 for the La Ribera club
.
Already in the second half, Coudet would move the bench again, taking out Juan Cruz Meza for Giulano Galoppo and soon after Kendry Páez for Joaquín Freitas. Despite the change, River continued to suffer the attacks of Boca, who got several dangerous chances that miraculously didn't
end in goal.
In parallel, Claudio Úbeda would make variants: Exequiel Zeballos by Merentiel. Just a few minutes later, Marcos Acuña would put a big cross on Salas, who without jumping headed the ball just over the crossbar. A little later, the Siphon would send two more changes: Ander Herrera and Tomás Belmonte for Paredes and Tomás
Aranda.
In the last 20 minutes, the match would come to a standstill, in which the Millionaire tried everywhere to tie the game, but he couldn't break the xeneize defense and Brey's guard, and Xeneize endured and waited for the spaces to try to widen the difference, but he couldn't finish specifying. This trend would continue until the end, not before closing with a controversy
.
At 94, Lautaro Blanco would push Gonzalo Montiel out of the box without a ball, but referee Darío Herrera, without consulting the VAR, would not sanction a penalty. Beyond this, Boca ended up winning by the minimum and taking all
three points.
With this victory, Boca extended its record lead against River to 6 games (94 wins for Xeneize, 88 for Millonario and 84 draws) and qualified for the Playoffs with no date left before the end of the regular phase.
The next match of the team led by Claudio Úbeda will be against Defensa y Justicia as a visitor, while those from Coudet, also qualified for the next stage of the tournament, will seek to recover against Aldosivi at home.
