Boca’s title credentials were never likely to be put under any real scrutiny by Olimpo in La Bombonera but Rodolfo Arruabarrena’s resurgent side came through their first match comfortably. Fernando Gago scored the opener from the penalty spot after some wrestling in the penalty box and although Jonathan Blanco stunned the crowd with a thumping header past Agustín Orión, Boca’s dominance began to tell. Academy product, Sebastián Palacios came off the bench to put the home side back in front with a wonderfully taken goal before the 23-year-old added a late third. With the amount of new faces to Boca over the summer, they might take a little while to click but the squad now has all the ingredients to mount a serious title challenge.
Later in La Paternal, Argentinos Juniors picked up a somewhat surprising but deserved victory over Atlético Rafaela. Given the number of key departures from the Estadio Diego Armando Maradona, expectations were not too high for Los Bichos but they were given an early boost when Alexis Niz diverted the ball into his own net with quarter of an hour gone. Atlético never really did enough to warrant a way back into the match and after 68 minutes a rare moment of quality extended Argentinos’ lead. Reinaldo Lenis burst forward from right back and when the ball was eventually played across the penalty area, Andrés Franzoia was there to steer the ball home. It is a morale boosting win for Argentinos ahead of what could be a difficult season.
golazo argentino 