Boca qualified this Thursday for the round of 16 of the Copa Libertadores as first in Zone E by beating Deportivo Cali, from Colombia, 1-0 at the Bombonera, with a good collective production, also taking advantage of the 1-1 equality between his escort, Corinthians, and the Bolivian Always Ready, in Brazil, at the closing of the group stage of the contest.
Boca, in growth of operation and invigorated by the recent obtaining of the Professional League Cup, He went out to look for the essential victory over the Colombians with a good deployment of his lines, opening the field and playing for times to control the ball and play directly.
That mix, which perhaps with the passing of the competitions will be the identifying stamp to know what many wondered until very recently: what does Sebastián Battaglia’s team play?, It was evident throughout the first half, surely the best football manifestation of the “xeneizes” in this last stretch of the semester.
Of course, the good forms just today were not so important if they did not come with the icing on the cake, which was the goal necessary to add the three points that would place them in the round of 16.
And although with a 4-3-3 that permanently had its sides launched, Frank Fabra and Jorge Figal (Battaglia chose him for his greater ductility compared to Marcelo Weingandt in the face of Luis Advíncula’s tear), Boca “got tired” of arriving well stepped on to the Cali area itself, the goal never did in the last meters of it.
Sometimes because of the goalkeeper Guillermo De Amores, others due to the inexperience of the midfielders and forwards who reached goal position, and others directly because they did not dare to finish off more than favorable options, as happened to Guillermo “Pol” Fernández, they made the first time was consumed in white.
All the merits that Óscar Romero had shown in driving, Alan Varela in controlling the ball (and with an unusual finishing spirit in him) and Exequiel Zeballos, indecipherable from the left, were diluted because neither Eduardo Salvio nor Darío Benedetto entered the same fine tuning than their peers.
And this was not going to change in the complement, so it was the midfielders who had to assume the role of their attackers, and before 10 minutes the well-deserved goal from Boca finally arrived when De Amores rejected a cross from the right with his fists that Varela took in front of the goal, outside the area, with the right boot, to nail the ball down, through the middle of the Colombian goal.
From then on, the good performance of the locals was further consolidated, and this was also reflected when Battaglia corrected that deficit observed in his attack by successively removing Salvio and Benedetto so that Juan Ramírez and Luis Vázquez could enter.
That goal from Varela, which was the first of his career in the first division and the 8,000th in the history of Boca, ratified the importance of this boy who in the reserve, when Battaglia directed him, was always a right midfielder, and now in the highest category had to get used to playing as a central midfielder, something that apparently learns quickly.
Alan Varela scored the ??? 8️⃣0️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ in club history!
?⚽️?#Always???? ??? pic.twitter.com/32gNbN9ePw– Boca Juniors (@BocaJrsOficial) May 27, 2022
And he achieved this with personality, the same personality he had to kick and convert the decisive penalty kick in the semifinal against Racing Club that propelled the “xeneize” team to win the League Cup against Tigre just five days ago.
Boca is undoubtedly in a state of grace, because after all the questions that seemed to have put Battaglia on the tightrope, with some internal problems as an added value, today he even received from Brazil the gift of a 1-1 draw from Corinthians, with a goal by Adson, against the last in the area, the Bolivian Always Ready, with both by Jonathan Borja.
That result allowed Boca, with its victory over Deportivo Cali, not only to qualify for the round of 16 that was under discussion, but also to do so as first in Group E.
The “xeneize” finished first in the zone with 10 points (0 in goal difference), followed by Corinthians, the second classified, with 9 (+1), while Deportivo Cali finished with 8 (+3) and will play the round of 16 Copa Sudamericana final, while Always Ready closed with 5 (-4), and was eliminated.
