The Superclásico is without a doubt the biggest, most-hyped event on the Argentine football calendar. So there was great expectation last weekend when Boca descended on the Monumental for the latest playing of the nation’s showpiece fixture. And it was... fine? Unless, of course, your loyalties lie with River.
Sunday saw the Xeneize come away with victory in Núñez and bragging rights for another six months or so. It was far from the most enthralling game from the neutral’s standpoint, with goalmouth action few and far between, but that will barely matter for Boca, their fans and coach Claudio Úbeda, who followed up a two-goal win in his first Superclásico in charge back in November with another triumph in this most crucial of games.
Úbeda’s record as a trainer prior to stepping into the breach left by the late Miguel Ángel Russo oscillated between the non-descript and the mediocre, but he has now inflicted bruising defeats on Marcelo Gallardo and Eduardo Coudet, becoming the first Boca coach to win back-to-back derbies since Carlos Ischia all the way back in 2008. Look at Duraznito now, living the high life, to borrow a phrase from Los Pibes Chorros’ seminal nineties cumbia track/grim warning never to underestimate even the most underwhelming members of one’s immediate social circle; you never know what they might be capable of.
The hero of the day from Boca’s point of view, almost inevitably, was Leandro Paredes. The Argentina midfielder battled against a packed River midfield and, when the big moment came, proved up to the challenge. Deep into stoppage time at the end of the first half Lautaro Rivero parried Miguel Merentiel’s shot with his hand, an act which gave the Xeneize the chance to open the scoring from the penalty spot and really should have earned the centre-back a second yellow card.
The pressure was on, but Paredes did not falter, blasting past Santiago Beltrán to net what proved to be the only goal of the game. It was the midfielder’s first-ever Superclásico strike and quite a special one. Nor, in emulating Juan Román Riquelme’s infamous Topo Gigio cupped ears celebration, did he forget the current Boca president and club legend.
“It just came to me, it wasn’t planned or anything,” Paredes, who came off with 20 minutes to go with a muscle complaint, told reporters after the game. “I am happy for this team, which deserves this. We played an incredible game, we are full of players who want to win big things. If we stay on this road, we’re doing well.”
What, then, of the other side of the road? Coudet suffered his first defeat since taking over as River boss and still has plenty of credit in the bank to ride out this slip. More concerning will be the manner of the loss. Imperious in his opening seven matches, the River attack was blunted in its first clash against a legitimately solid backline, starved of the space that a week previously another Clásico opponent, Racing, had been so happy to afford them.
While there are few frills in this current Boca team, they are tough to break down, leading to an unexpectedly dull afternoon for Leandro Brey, who along with rival goalkeeper Beltrán was making his Superclásico debut.
Plenty to work on for the Millonario then, and even in the context of the usual Superclásico this could serve as a useful gauge of just where Coudet’s team is as he looks forward to the end of the Apertura and subsequent transfer window, where River will almost certainly be active again. But the day belonged to Paredes, Úbeda and Boca, who are enjoying a spell of superiority over their rivals which has been all too rare for more than a decade.
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