Boca Juniors, defending champion of the Professional Soccer League, debuts this Sunday as the home of Atlético Tucumán in the new season of Argentine soccer that began following the consecration of the selected team in the World Cup in Qatar.
The match of the first date of the LPF 2023 will be played from 9:30 p.m. with refereeing by Jorge Baliño and broadcast by ESPN Premium.
Boca will return to La Bombonera 98 days following the consecration in the previous tournament, which occurred with its draw once morest Independiente (2-2) and a great favor from River Plate, in the last official match of Marcelo Gallardo, by beating Racing Club in Avellaneda.
Since the conquest of that star, number 73 in its history, Hugo Ibarra’s team lost two official cups to “The Academy”: the Champions Trophy in San Luis in November 2022 and the recent International Super Cup in the United Arab Emirates, the Last Friday, January 20.
The defeat on San Luis soil ended in a scandal over Carlos Alcaraz’s gestures in the decisive goal (2-1) and the controversial refereeing by Rodrigo Tello, who sent off seven “xeneizes” footballers.
That rain of cards made it difficult for Ibarra to form the team at the start of the League, but a saving amnesty from the AFA benefited all the clubs, especially Boca due to the number of suspensions it had.
The Argentine soccer leadership approved that the “mild sanctions”, those of less than three dates, be considered fulfilled, which enabled five players to debut with Atlético.
Only striker Darío Benedetto, sanctioned with 4 games, and defender Frank Fabra, who must pay with 3 games, were left out of this criteria. The rest (Luis Advíncula, Alan Varela, Guillermo “Pol” Fernández, Sebastián Villa and Diego González) will be at the coach’s disposal.
Boca and the “Dean” played at La Bombonera on August 28, a match that “Xeneize” won 2-1, registered in the final sprint towards the title. The Tucumans ended that night upset with an arbitration that had Baliño as responsible for the VAR and did not penalize an alleged penalty by Carlos Zambrano once morest Ignacio Maestro Puch.
The Atlético coach, Lucas Pusineri, avoided opinions on the appointment of the referee, also on the pardon of sanctions and focused on being able to start the tournament with a good result on the Boca field, a redoubt in which Atlético won 3 of the 10 times you visited it.
Among the novelties of the initial formation, Boca will have the presence of the former goalkeeper of the Argentine national team Sergio Romero, who barely played 45 minutes in a friendly since his arrival at the club.
The world runner-up in Brazil 2014 played for the last time officially with Venezia in an Italian Serie A match once morest Sassuolo on March 6 last year.
“Chiquito” Romero, 35, won the fight once morest Javier García in the dispute for the Boca goal following the recent departure of Agustín Rossi to the Al Nassr club in Saudi Arabia.
There will also be the premiere of the Paraguayan central marker Bruno Valdez, incorporated into this transfer market to replace Zambrano.
Probable formations of Boca and Atlético Tucumán in the Professional League
Boca Juniors: Sergio Romero; Marcelo Weigandt, Bruno Valdez, Nicolás Figal and Agustín Sández; Guillermo “Pol” Fernández, Alan Varela and Juan Ramírez; Oscar Romero; Sebastián Villa and Nicolás Orsini. DT: Hugo Ibarra.
Atletico Tucuman: Thomas Marchiori: Hernan De La Fountain, Bruno Bianchi, Jonathan Cabral, Matthias Orihuela; Renzo Tesuri, William Acosta, Joaquin Pereyra, Ramiro Ruiz Rodriguez; Matthew Coronel and Marcelo Estigarribia. DT: Lucas Pusineri.
Referee: Jorge Balino. WAS: Ariel Penell. Estadio: Boca Juniors. Start time: 21:30. TV: ESPN Premium.
