Boca Juniors vs Lanus
Boca Juniors are still finding trouble to overcome their irregularity. In round 19, the team suffered an unexpected 1-0 away defeat at relegation candidates Sarandi Arsenal following a terrible performance. That result put an end to a three-match winning run in Liga Profesional action as the team remain on 27 points, just enough to occupy tenth spot of the respective standings. At home, Boca won their last three in domestic action (over Racing Club, Belgrano and Tigre). On Tuesday 6, Boca beat Colo Colo from Chile 1-0 at home in a Copa Libertadores group game. Thinking of Saturday, Luis Advincula, Frank Fabra and Luca Langoni are unavailable due to different injuries suffered in midweek. Jorge Figal, affected by a mild muscle problem, will miss out too. In addition, Sebastian Villa won’t play for Boca for the foreseeable future after being found guilty for gender violence. Marcelo Weigandt is suspended after seeing a red card at Sarandi Arsenal.
Lanus showed a great display of effort to reverse the score and secured an important 2-1 home victory over Atletico Tucuman in a hard-fought game last Sunday. As a result, Frank Kudelka’s men made it three league games unbeaten (winning two and drawing one). El Granate are now on 32 points in the Liga Profesional, even holding one game in hand, which gives them a spot in the 2024 Copa Sudamericana so far. On a sorry note, Lanus have been struggling on the road lately: they are on seven away games without a win: it’s been four draws and three losses since beating Estudiantes 2-0 in February.
Boca’s squad is just depleted with injuries and suspensions: 7 of the usual starters are out and 3 or 4 subs will miss this game as well, so I have to go with Lanus to get something out of it.