Boca Juniorsmarked by irregularity but still with concrete possibilities to fight for the title, he receives Atletico Tucumánthe solid leader of the Professional Football League (LPF)in a match valid for date 16 in which they will try to win a victory that allows them to maintain their illusion and improve their image in the semester.

The match will be played from 6pm in La Bombonera, will be refereed by Fernando Espinoza and televised by ESPN Premium.

The “Xeneize” team led by Hugo Benjamín Ibarra has 23 points and comes from the Defense and Justice victory in Florencio Varela 1-0 as a guest with a last-minute goal from Santa Fe Luis Vázquez, while the “Dean” of Tucumán has added 32 units and in his latest presentation beat Barracas Central (4-0).

Boca had a flawless first half, winning the League Cup title and a convincing and growing performance, but it all fell apart in the second half of the year when they were eliminated in the round of 16 of the Cup. Libertadores and that created a negative internal movement.

Without the possibility of continuing in Libertadores, DT Sebastián Battaglia’s cycle ended abruptly, then that of captain Carlos Izquierdoz and the arrival of Ibarra as coach after working in the Reserve division did not deliver the expected performance or results.

However, the individual hierarchy of footballers such as Colombian striker Sebastián Villa, the team’s most unbalanced player, and Agustín Rossi’s saves hid the lack of performance in some matches and this was enough for Boca to continue the match in the national tournament. . in the Copa Argentina, a tournament in which he settled in the quarter-finals.

The challenge of Boca will be to demonstrate against the best in the league that it can get involved when there are still 12 dates and 36 points to be won, too many to do, even if it is also true that in addition to the Tucumans it has several teams better positioned in the lead, so that their successes are not enough but that it depends on the falls of others.

As for the team, this Sunday the Formosano Ibarra will recover the defenders Carlos Zambrano and Frank Fabra, who will replace Facundo Roncaglia and Agustín Sandez, while the Paraguayan Oscar Romero will once again be the starter in place of the injured Cristian Medina.

In attack, Vázquez will continue to accompany Villa, who will postpone the return of the eleven owners of Darío Benedetto, who will occupy a place on the substitutes’ bench after recovering from an injury.

Boca will try to overtake a strong rival like Atlético Tucumán to recover ground in the fight for the championship and be well defined for the next matches which will be Colón in Santa Fe and then Superclásico in La Bombonera against River, the most important match of the semester for which it will surely have the captain Marcos Rojo, the player with the highest hierarchy of the squad.

Atlético Tucumán, led by Lucas Pusineri, have stopped surprising and are a reality with nine wins, five draws and one defeat, in Sarandí against Arsenal.

Pusineri will recover a key player like Ramiro Carrera, author of four league goals, top scorer of the “Dean” on Ramiro Ruiz Rodríguez, who has scored three.

Carrera will replace Eugenio Isnaldo, while Cristian Menéndez, author of the first goal against Barracas Central, will continue in attack, and Augusto Lotti will wait for his chance on the bench.

Ruiz Rodríguez, one of the figures of the “Dean”, has however spent the last 48 hours with a feverish picture and if he cannot play against Boca he will be replaced by Lotti, even if according to what Pusineri anticipated, they will wait for him. until the last moment.

The story between the two is 17 games and is tied with seven wins for each and three drawsalthough the last two times they met, Boca won.

Boca won 2-0 in La Bombonera in February 2020 with goals from Franco Soldano and Ramón “Wanchope” Abila, and in Tucumán in September 2021 2-1 with goals from Lisandro López and Rodrigo Montes of Córdoba.

– Probable formations –

Boca Juniors: Augustin Rossi; Luis Advíncula, Carlos Zambrano, Nicolás Figal and Frank Fabra; Guillermo “Pol” Fernández, Alan Varela and Juan Ramírez; Oscar Romero; Sebastian Villa and Luis Vazquez. DT: Hugo Ibarra.

Atletico Tucuman: Carlos Lampe; Martín Garay, Bruno Bianchi, Manuel Capasso and Gabriel Risso Patrón; Renzo Tesuri, Guillermo Acosta, Joaquín Pereyra and Ramiro Carrera; Cristian Menéndez and Ramiro Ruiz Rodríguez or Augusto Lotti. DT: Lucas Pusineri.

Referee: Fernando Espinoza.

Field: Boca Juniors.

Start time: 18.

TV: ESPN Premium.