Boca’s agonizing victory against Estudiantes in La Plata to get closer to the Copa Libertadores 2026
Boca beat him Students in agony for 2-1 on date 14 of Zone A of Closing Tournament 2025. Xeneize rose to the top of his group and was one step away from qualifying for the next CONMEBOL Libertadores. Exequiel Zeballos and Miguel Merentiel were the authors of the goals for the visitor in UNO, Edwuin Cetré had declared a temporary tie.
Those led by Claudio Ubeda achieved a key victory, rose to the top of Zone A and are getting closer to getting a ticket to the Libertadores 2026.
In the first half, Xeneize went from less to more and deserved to take advantage at the end.
Pincha had started the game better with some approaches, which had Cetré as the protagonist from the left, but they failed in the last touch.
Those led by Eduardo Domínguez began to fade as the minutes passed and those of Úbeda were on the rise, having the stopped ball as their best ally.
During the first 45 minutes, Changuito Zeballos was the most incisive player of the visiting team, to the point that they awarded him a penalty at the end of the first half.
Zeballos took charge of the maximum penalty, crossed his shot, but the ball hit Fernando Muslera’s right post and thus the local team was saved from being at a disadvantage at halftime.
Despite having wasted the penalty, Xeneize entered the second half with the same attitude with which they closed the first half.
Those from Úbeda had a quick reward. Milton Giménez put in a beautiful filtered pass and Zeballos crossed his left foot to make it 1-0 in the 49th minute.
Prior to this play, Tiago Palacios had hit the crossbar with a shot.
Although they were down on the scoreboard, Estudiantes continued to arrive with the ball, but it was a former Boca player who unbalanced.
Cristian Medina made a play and Muslera committed a penalty. Cetré took charge and poked the Uruguayan goalkeeper to make it 1-1 in La Plata in the 59th minute.
With the score tied, Pincha went all out in search of victory and turned each approach into a dangerous opportunity.
Estudiantes practically focused their entire attack on the left. The entry of Luis Advíncula gave Cetré many opportunities and overwhelmed him without stopping.
Boca’s game plan was, in short, to stop on the counterattack and wait for Zeballos, their best player of the match, to resolve the situation with individuality.
When it seemed like it would be a tie, Pincha got careless in the background and in a counterattack, Merentiel was awarded a penalty
The flaming captain changed the maximum penalty into a goal and declared the final 2-1 in La Plata.
This victory leaves Xeneize as the only leader in Zone A and brings it closer to direct qualification to the next CONMEBOL Libertadores.
On the next date, Boca will face River in the Superclásico and Estudiantes will visit Tigre.
