Boca Juniors answered their critics in emphatic fashion on Sunday evening with a historic 7-1 victory over Vélez Sarsfield.

One win and two draws in the league and a limp victory over lower league opposition in the Copa Argentina for Boca before Sunday hardly indicated that Vélez, one of only two sides with a 100% record after three rounds, would be so mercilessly torn apart.

Initially it didn’t look like that either. Vélez were matching Boca for much of the first half and even when the outstanding Edwin Cardona skidded a free-kick under the wall and past Lucas Hoyos, the home side almost immediately struck back, Juan Lucero bundling in from close range.

Cardona would turn provider to restore the lead slipping in compatriot Sebastián Villa to score and the half time score of 2-1 suggested a tight second half would ensue.

It couldn’t have been further from the truth. The moment Villa cut in off the left to add his second and Boca’s third soon after the restart, Vélez capitulated. Minutes later Villa’s shot off the post was turned in by Gonzalo Maroni and a wonderful move down the left between Villa and a resurgent Frank Fabra saw Carlos Tevez volley number five.

Fabra would play a key role in a sensational sixth squaring for Maroni to tap in and Jormán Campuzano wrapped things up late on strolling through the now non-existent Vélez backline.

Are Boca truly back? Next Sunday’s Superclásico will surely reveal more.

It wasn’t only Boca who found their scoring boots, Estudiantes travelled to Sarandí and thrashed Arsenal 5-0.

A Leandro Díaz penalty and well taken Ángel González goal put the Pincha firmly in the driving seat early and when Juan Sánchez Miño added a third before the break the game was already as good as over.

It could still get worse for an Arsenal side that has lost every game though. Díaz slid in his second of the game and Martín Cauteruccio almost mockingly back-heeled a fifth when the home side’s defence looked as though they had given up.

Five-up with twenty minutes to go there was an opportunity for Ricardo Zielinski to hand Deian Verón, the third generation of Estudiantes’ most famous family, his debut. Father and president Juan Sebastián has done so much for the club but his managerial appointments haven’t been great. That might have changed with Zielinski making an unbeaten start and the Pincha sitting second in Group A.

Patronato have also lost all four games after Unión emerged as 1-0 winners in Paraná. Juan Manuel García scoring his third of the season to settle a close affair but push unbeaten Unión up into fifth in Group B.

Just below Unión lie Gimnasia and Defensa y Justicia after the pair played out a 1-1 draw in La Plata.

Johan Carbonero gave the home side the lead just after half time but Eugenio Isnaldo’s deflected effort brought Defensa y Justicia back level. El Halcón had Fernando Meza sent off late on but neither side could find a winner.