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Final tournament — Superderby preview

Sunday, March 30, 2014

The perfect chance to resurface

Boca Juniors coach Carlos Bianchi.

Boca Juniors and River Plate play today at 6.15pm at La Bombonera

A new Superderby between Boca Juniors and River Plate will be played today at 6.15pm at La Bombonera stadium with both teams needing a victory to stay in the fight for the title.

Boca Juniors and River Plate need a victory to keep their chances of fighting for the Final Tournament title alive and will meet today at La Bombonera stadium at 6.15 to play a new Superderby of the Argentine soccer.

The match will be a tough test for both teams, as they are not going through their best moment and the three points would put them close to leader Colón.

There is going to be a huge police deployment with 1,020 officers, although there will be no supporters from the visiting side. The focus will be on Boca’s hooligans.

For the host, it will be a great opportunity to show a new face and leave behind the poor performance against Quilmes in their 0-0 draw last week. Carlos Bianchi’s side will count on its playmaker Juan Román Riquelme, who has played the last four matches after recovering from an injury. Also, forward Juan Manuel Martínez will return to the first team after missing the last round. He will play in the attack with striker Emanuel Gigliotti, the team’s leading goalscorer with two.

The coach did not confirm the team, but it will probably be: Agustín Orion; Hernán Grana, Daniel Díaz, Juan Forlín, Emanuel Insúa; Cris-tian Erbes, Fernando Gago, Juan Sánchez Miño; Riquelme; Martínez and Gigliotti.

Meanwhile, River comes from a 2-0 victory over South American Cup champion Lanús that gave them a morale boost before its match against its arch rival. Ramón Díaz’s team has two more points than Boca and is four behind Colón, which visits Arsenal de Sarandí today at 5.10pm.

It’s been 10 years since the last victory of River at La Bombonera. In that match on May 16 of 2004, Fernando Cavenaghi, then a young striker with European future by then and now captain of the team, gave the victory to the visitors. He will play today in the attack along with Colombia international Teófilo Gutiérrez, who returns to the first team after missing the last round due to an injury.

Also, the team from Núñez accumulates nine games without away victories (four defeats and five draws) and wants to end that negative run against its arch rival.

River will play with: Marcelo Barovero; Gabriel Mercado, Jonatan Maidana, Éder Álvarez Balanta, Ramiro Funes Mori; Carlos Carbonero, Cristian Ledesma, Ariel Rojas, Manuel Lanzini; Gutiérrez and Cavenaghi.