River Plate vs Boca Juniors Predictions

Wednesday’s Copa Libertadores semi final, first leg clash sees River Plate doing battle with Boca Juniors at the Monumental. A tight and feisty affair is expected to be in order as the two bitter enemies trade blows once again for a place in the final.

It’s fair to say that whatever happens in this tie, River Plate won’t let Boca forget the events of last year. Teased by Boca fans for years for their infamous relegation in 2011, River wrote their own piece of folklore to gloat about, defeating El Xeneize in the first ever continental final between the two, after a crazy two legs that eventually saw the second game moved to Madrid due to crowd trouble, which River went on to win in extra time.

Nonetheless, Los Millonarios certainly won’t want to be upstaged by their rivals here and retaining their continental title has been an objective for months now. Having advanced from a group containing Internacional, Palestino and Alianza Lima prior to seeing off Cruzeiro and Cerro Porteno, Marcelo Gallardo’s troops have looked as strong as ever in the Libertadores so far this year and will come into Wednesday’s game confident of holding their nerve.

Meanwhile, as touched upon above, Boca Juniors are not just fighting for a ticket to the final in Santiago, but also to right the wrongs of last year’s defeat. The Libertadores has been the side’s main objective this year, having not won it since 2007, and they’ve thus far met all expectations, advancing from a group containing Athletico PR, Tolima and Wilstermann prior to dispatching of the same Brazilian outfit and LDU Quito.

Boss Gustavo Alfaro has certainly done well to lift spirits at the club since coming in following defeat in Madrid and the visitors are looking a very powerful and consistent outfit under him. Indeed, now unbeaten in an impressive 13 competitive matches, Boca have no reason to make the trip to Nuñez in apprehensive state and will be looking to secure a positive result ahead of the second leg.

Ultimately, whilst this should be a good watch due to the sheer magnitude of the occasion, we’re expecting most of the action to come in the referee’s notebook rather than in either goalmouth. It’s expected to be a tight game with so much at stake and the two look really difficult to separate on paper.

All things considered, backing a draw looks like an excellent way to play as far as the betting is concerned and is something we’re more than happy to do. Both legs of the final last year ended all square, the sides drew 0-0 earlier this month in league action and with River having kept a clean sheet in 4 of their last 5 games and Boca having conceded just twice over their last 13 outings, a 0-0 stalemate could well be on the cards.