River Plate vs Talleres
River Plate returned to their best version last Sunday, when they showed enjoyable football to beat arch-rivals Boca Juniors 2-0 away in the Superclasico, with Salomon Rondon and Enzo Diaz scoring. The defending champions are now on four Copa Liga Profesional matches unbeaten (three victories and one draw), which places them into the playoff zone in group A, accumulating 13 points. In addition, River are on 14 consecutive successes at Estadio Monumental in domestic action.
Talleres fans will have felt frustrated following their scoreless home draw against Belgrano as the team created the better chances but lacked effectiveness up front. That result means La T remain out of the playoff spots in group A, accumulating 11 points after winning only one of their last five Copa Liga Profesional games (along with two draws and two defeats). However, La T stay second-placed in the aggregate table, holding a ten-point gap over the first non-Copa Libertadores spot. Talleres are on two consecutive defeats as the visiting side, having lost to Rosario Central 2-0 and Argentinos Juniors 3-1. Coach Javier Gandolfi has a full squad to choose from on Sunday to visit the defending champions.
River showed their best version in last week’s Superclasico and that should be a big morale boost for them. They’ve been super strong at home but they will have a tough opponent in Talleres that can hurt their not so solid defense, so I’ll go for the OVER here because I can see both teams scoring.