Banfield vs Rosario Central
Banfield fans should have felt very worried after the team’s 2-0 away defeat to direct relegation contenders Huracan in their Copa Liga Profesional debut last Monday. That result put an end to their six-match unbeaten streak of three victories and three draws in this competition and also left them on 30 points in the aggregate table, just two above the relegation spot, occupied by Huracan at the moment. At home, Banfield took seven points from the last nine available without even conceding.
Rosario Central fans will have felt disappointed after their team’s scoreless home stalemate against Atletico Tucuman in a boring Copa Liga Profesional opener. In fact, Miguel Russo’s men made it six league matches unbeaten, but only one of those ended in a victory and the other five were draws. As a result, El Canalla are comfortably sitting into one of the Copa Sudamericana places in the aggregate table, but four points behind the last Copa Libertadores’ spot. On a sorry note, Central remain winless in the last nine on away turf, drawing six and losing three since beating Huracan 2-0 in March.
Banfield has been defensively solid at home lately but they usually struggle to score, Rosario is still trying to adapt to play without their top scorer Alejo Veliz who now plays for Tottenham, so I expect a tight game here.