Independiente vs Boca Juniors Predictions

Sunday’s Superliga Argentina sees rivals Independiente and Boca Juniors doing battle. The hosts will be looking take full advantage of Boca’s Copa Libertadores final distraction in order to secure all 3 points.

Whilst it’s Racing who are Independiente’s biggest enemy, there’s certainly no love lost between themselves and Boca and fans at the Estadio Libertadores de America will be desperate to see their side secure bragging rights on Sunday. Despite a 1-0 defeat at Lanus last time out, Ariel Holan’s troops arrive in good shape and will be confident of putting in a strong performance as a result.

Indeed, El Rojo currently stand 5th after taking 22 points from their opening 13 matches and all focus is on trying to make ground on Racing, who top the Superliga on 30 points. The host’s away performances have been highly inconsistent in recent weeks but having won their last 3 games in front of the home crowd, they’re looking a powerful force on their own patch and that has their prospects looking bright coming into Sunday’s match.

Meanwhile, this short trip to Avellaneda is merely a distraction for Boca, with the second leg of their Copa Libertadores final against arch rivals River Plate finally set to be played next weekend, in Madrid of all places. The match was originally set to be played last weekend at River’s El Monumental stadium but after Boca’s bus was attacked with stones, the match had to be postponed.

Boca then tried in vain to claim the trophy via default but they now face a long trip to Europe following this game. As such, lots of changes are set to be made in this match and with Pablo Perez and Cristian Pavon unavailable due to injury, El Xeneize will be severely understrength; something that leaves their prospects looking bleak given they’ve also failed to win any of their last 4 away matches.

Ultimately, in normal circumstances, this would be a tricky match to call but Independiente would be marginal favourites due to their home advantage. However, with Boca understrength, distracted and no doubt psychologically affected by last weekend’s events, El Rojo will surely smell blood.

As such, at current prices, backing a home win looks to provide excellent value and is exactly where our money is going. Independiente have scored an average of 3 goals a game over their last 3 home matches and with Boca having conceded exactly twice in their last 3 away games, we fancy the hosts to record a relatively comfortable 2-0 win.