Nacional (Uruguay) vs Boca (Argentina)
Through a goal from Diego Polenta in the first half, Nacional clinched a much-needed 1-0 home success over Venezuelan club Metropolitanos FC to climb into second spot of the group B table and reach the round-of-16. The team wrapped up their campaign in the Uruguayan Torneo Intermedio on July 22nd, beating Cerro Largo 1-0 at home to make it 11 points in seven games and end up in third spot of group B. In fact, El Bolso remain second-placed in the aggregate table. Alvaro Gutierrez’s men won three and drew one of their last five competitive matches, losing only once in that time. At home, Nacional succumbed to a single defeat across the last 21, winning 16 and drawing four.
Nacional saw promising goalkeeper Sergio Rochet leaving the club sold to SC Internacional, Brazil. Fabian Noguera and Camilo Candido also left the club. Gonzalo Carneiro (arriving from FC Sion, Switzerland) is the only relevant signing, but he succumbed to a fibula injury and will miss out.
Boca Juniors found it really easy to beat Monagas SC 4-0 at home, a victory that allowed them to keep the first spot of the Copa Libertadores’ group F table on 13 points, opening a five-point gap over second-placed Deportivo Pereira. On Saturday, El Xeneize also beat Independiente 2-0 away to close up their Liga Profesional campaign in seventh place on 44 points, just one behind the last Copa Libertadores’ berth for now. Boca hold an impressive eight-match unbeaten run of seven wins and one draw in all competitions. Three of those games took place on away turf, with Jorge Almiron’s men grabbing seven points from nine available.
Boca Juniors added several important reinforcements to their squad, including Lucas Janson (Velez Sarsfield) and Lucas Blondel (Tigre) Edinson Cavani (from Valencia CF, Spain) and Ezequiel Bullaude (Feyenoord Rotterdam, Netherlands) will be available from next round on (if the club advance).
Legendary striker Cavani won’t be available for this game, but his arrival is a super motivation for this team that has improved lately and I think they should be able to at least avoid a defeat here.