Boca Juniors vs Santos Match Preview

Boca Juniors faces Santos for the first leg of the Copa Libertadores semi-finals at Bombonera, Buenos Aires. The match will be held behind closed doors due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The second leg will follow in Brazil, next week. The away-goals rule will count on these semi-finals series of Copa Libertadores, and in case of a draw, the winner will be decided straight through the penalty shoot-out.

The hosts come from a 2-2 home draw against River Plate in their most recent game for the Argentinian league. They entered the pitch strongly and determined to get a positive result, opening early the scoreline. However, they tried to keep their lead by playing very defensively and they didn't avoid conceding twice. Finally, they did a good effort towards the end of the game, scoring the equalizer in the second half. With this point, they maintained their spot at the top of their group, and in the following and last round of the league, they will go up against Argentinos Jrs.

Since the Argentinian league is almost over, the team will bring all their focus on these semi-final series, with Boca Juniors heading for the big final. Today's only missing for Russo's team is Jorman Campuzano due to injury. Franco Soldano and Carlos Tevez are expected to start again in the front line of Boca Juniors.

Santos, on the other hand, remains winless for 4 consecutive matches in the league, suffering a 1-0 defeat against Vasco da Gama, while earlier they have failed against Ceara (1-1). However, in both these matches, the team played under heavy rotation, as they were getting prepared for the semi-finals of the Copa Libertadores.

In the quarter-finals of the competition, they qualified easily over Gremio, sharing points in the first leg (1-1), and prevailing with an amazing 4-1 win in the second leg at home. The club is still facing significant financial problems, and in case of winning the title of Copa Libertadores, it would be a huge relief. No missings are reported for the visitors today.

Boca Juniors has a difficult task to face here against a team of great quality like Santos. I will pickSantos to win here, taking the risk on the massive odds for the away win.