Superclásico proves tables have turned for Boca and River

The tables, at least for now, have fully turned. For more than a decade, Boca Juniors have cast an envious eye at their arch-rivals in the posh part of town, who represented everything the Xeneize were lacking. Stability both on and off the pitch, a coherent playing style, success and silverware, a booming economy: the gulf between Boca and River looked insurmountable. Now, though, the men in blue and gold are back fully in charge of the Superclásico and thoroughly enjoying it.

On Sunday, Boca dominated at La Bombonera to take down River 1-0 and win their third straight derby, a mark not achieved by either club for more than 30 years. While slim, the margin of victory was wholly flattering to the visitors, who never looked like cancelling out Luciano Di Lollo’s first-half opener and really were on the back foot from the 10th minute onwards, when Lucas Martínez Quarta saw red for a dreadfully clumsy rugby tackle which VAR adjudged to have denied a clear goalscoring opportunity outside the River box. The Millonarios mustered a pitiful three shots over the course of the game, none of them on target, which ensured a quiet, even dull Superclásico debut for underemployed Boca goalkeeper Álvaro Montero.

Interim River boss Leo Ponzio thus finds himself part of an undesirable curiosity. He is the third Millo coach to lose to their hated nemesis in as many games, with the previous losses coming under Marcelo Gallardo at the tail-end of 2025 and Eduardo Coudet during this year’s Apertura. That number is eloquent. Gone are the days where a procession of Boca trainers would offer themselves up as lambs to the slaughter before the eternal Gallardo. Granted, job security around La Bombonera is still pretty precarious, with Rodolfo Arruabarrena taking over from Claudio Úbeda mid-year for his second stint on the bench, but the resources he has at his disposal, a mix of wonderfully talented youngsters, battlers and no little class (Leo Paredes, Santiago Ascacibar and Miguel Merentiel, in particular) is simply streets ahead of whatever it is that the tens of millions River decided to spend on has yielded.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the vanquished side chose to aim their cannons at the officials. “When mistakes always favour the same people they aren’t mistakes anymore,” beleaguered River president Stefano Di Carlo fumed on social media after the game, taking aim at Claudio Tapia and the AFA . “They have no shame or limits. They are destroying Argentine football in front of all of us.” Ponzio didn’t even wait for the final whistle, launching a fierce tirade at Ramírez following Gonzalo Montiel’s red card, River’s second of the game. Even Clarín got in on the act with a near-unprecedented front page proclaiming a “Superclásico and Scandal: Boca won with help from the referee and VAR.”

Behind the hysteria it does not seem that River, who are currently at loggerheads with Tapia, have much of a case. Both reds were justified, Montiel’s a nasty scything challenge directly at the ankles of Lautaro Blanco, while if we were to delve into the morass of every questionable decision elsewhere we would likely find the mistakes more or less evenly distributed. The naked truth is that River look forlorn this season, shorn of their usual aura, and it showed at the weekend.

The Millonario likely cannot wait for this cursed 2026 to end, though the upcoming play-offs leave a glimmer of hope yet. Boca, meanwhile, continue to look for a straight flush on the year and the cards just keep going their way. Fighting the latter stages of the Copas Argentina and Sudamericana? Check. Top of the annual league table? Check. A dominant win when it mattered most? Check and double check. 

Arruabarrena’s charges keep rolling on, with a glittering trophy haul to end the term still very much possible.