Rosario Central v Colón de Santa Fé

On Tuesday, Colón de Santa Fé played in the group stage of the Copa Libertadores and claimed a victory over Peñarol. Colón absolutely battered the Uruguayans, but the 2-1 didn’t come easy, with the winning goal in the 90th minute. Something similar happened in the league last week, when Colón were far better than Aldosivi, but in this case the lack of goals cost them, as Aldosivi’s three shots on target all ended in a goal (1-3). 

It meant that Colón fell out of the play-off spots. They are playing Rosario Central in this game and against one of the worst teams in the league this moment, they are eyeing a victory that could push them back into the top 4. Rosario got rid of manager Kily Gonzalez before the last game and replaced him with the inexperienced Leandro Somoza, but that hasn’t created the expected turnaround yet. Rosario were no game for just promoted Tigre and failed to produce a shot on target all game in the 2-0 defeat. Somoza announced changes for this game and local media expect the inclusion of 18-year-old striker Alejo Veliz, which could work out, but looks a bit desperate already.  

Despite Copa Libertadores duty (Colón travel to Paraguay next week) they took their strongest team to Rosario, so I expect most of them to start this game. As it looks like they are not really holding back for this game, I fully expect Colón to pick up a result here.

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Talleres Córdoba v Defensa y Justicia

Defensa y Justicia are one of the most exciting teams of the league this season. However, in the last game against River Plate, it became clear that they still have a long way to go to become a serious threat for the top teams. Defensa weren’t completely outplayed, but were a level down from River, who deserved the victory. 

Talleres are kind of playing a lost season already. They’re not in the shout for making the play-offs anymore and are playing in the Copa Libertadores as well at the moment. New manager Pedro Caixinha doesn’t really have the luxury to give this game away, but with a difficult away game against Flamengo on Tuesday, I am pretty certain Talleres won’t go all out to win this game. Defensa y Justicia have a Copa Sudamericana match on Tuesday, but with a home game against Goias, their fixture seems a lot easier. Also, Defensa still look good to qualify for the league play-offs, so I suspect their motivation will pretty much be at maximum level, where Talleres mainly have the Copa Lib in their mind.

Talleres have some of their decent attacking players back from injury, but still miss Michael Santos and Rodrigo Garro. Defensa y Justicia will be complete for this game, so I think Defensa are favourites to take the three points here.

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Vélez Sarsfield v Boca Juniors

This is an interesting match, as Vélez’s latest match in the Copa Libertadores is Thursday evening. Two days later they are already up in the league again, with Boca Juniors as their opponent. Now, both teams are going to play with mostly subs here as they both have more Copa Libertadores duty next week, but Boca will have several starters playing this game. 

That is because Boca’s last Copa Libertadores game of 2021 against Atlético Mineiro dissolved into chaos. Six Boca players were suspended after the embarrassing episode and a few of the regular starters will miss the entire group stage of the Copa Libertadores. The suspended players are the only ones from the usual starting XI who will feature here. We are talking about captain Marcos Rojo, Diego Gonzalez and Sebastián Villa, who is one of the most important attacking players at Boca. 

Carlos Izquierdoz and Cristian Pavón would be two others, but both players are sidelined with injuries. Vélez will also most certainly have an entire reserve team starting, but as Boca are a top team in Argentina and usually acting at a much higher level, I suspect Boca’s reserves are simply better. With Rojo and Villa added to that, I just can’t see Boca going home empty-handed here.  

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