Copa Libertadores: Are the favorites Boca and River?

Football, a much-loved sporting activity in Argentina (and around the world), has been slightly upset by technological attempts and regulatory changes which, instead of improving it, complicate the judgment of its true fans, the fans.

In addition to the scar caused by the possibility of making five changes per team (from provisional, due to the pandemic, it has become definitive) which favors the powerful who have better substitutions, in addition to the waste of time that is amplified by the endless exchanges between the referees of the real ones, and their VAR colleagues (who see everything but call when they feel like it and, in the end, you never know who decides even if it seems that it is the referee, who sometimes goes to check on the monitor and sometimes not) now add that – in penalties – the goalkeepers must wait for the shot from 11 meters with the TWO FEET ON THE LINE. An absurdity that minimizes the chances of containing them. That might have been the attitude she showed Agostino Rossi In recent times has it seemed to them (to FIFA) an “advantage for those who normally have the fate of a victim in such a favorable situation for the executor?”

Well … Beyond these digressions – or not so much – let’s go to this phenomenon which defines the range of controversies and forecasts that this game-business which attracts so much Boca and River are in the round of 16 of the Copa Libertadores. Neither of them won. Boca drew in San Pablo with Corinthians (0-0) and River lost 1-0 with Vélez in Liniers. Rematches will take place next week with the locations invested. And there was an almost collective feeling that both results were beneficial to the not winners. A PARADOX. But this usually occurs in football folklore.

In Boca – undoubtedly improved in recent times, given that Battaglia seemed to find a more confident and offensive starting team – it is believed that equality in Brazil, in close contact with the “ingredients of the cup” and even with the possibility of victory, it opens the door to a probable classification in the duel of the Bombonera.

The River thing was more complicated. Because not only was he defeated by a Vélez populated by several youth teams and some mature reserves, but he was practically beaten and had to lose by more goals. The goalkeeper Armani, some flaws in the definitions and the influence of the case (which usually affects the results of the matches) allowed him to arrive at a tight defeat. “We can’t play that bad”said Marcelo Gallardo, the coach. And he gave the signal to turn history upside down in the rematch. It’s possible? No party is alike, says an old axiom. And it is true. Will Vélez be able to repeat a performance similar to the Monumental? Nobody can say it. The truth is that in the insecure language of paradoxes, anything is possible. And the not winners may be favorites. Overall, exciting football has room for all pre-match speculation.