Boca Juniors further sank River Plate, featuring Juanfer Quintero, Miguel Borja, and Kevin Castaño: they steamrolled them in the Argentine Superclásico.

Boca Juniors dealt another heavy blow to Marcelo Gallardo's River Plate this Sunday, in which the three Colombians in the squad, Kevin Castaño, Juan Fernando Quintero and Miguel Ángel Borja, had minutes in the Argentine football superclásico.

Claudio Ubeda's team won 2-0 at La Bombonera, securing their qualification for the 2026 Copa Libertadores via the annual standings with 59 points. River Plate finished with 52 points and, although they would currently qualify, their chances are seriously threatened.

It wasn't a good match for any of River's Colombian players: Kevin Castaño, who started in the lineup, was replaced by Giuliano Gallopo shortly after Boca's second goal. Quintero came on at halftime for Lautaro Rivero, but couldn't make a difference, and Borja entered in the 59th minute for Sebastián Driussi: he didn't manage a single shot on goal.

In the packed La Bombonera stadium with more than 50,000 fans, including the English pop singer Dua Lipa, Boca achieved a resounding victory over their arch-rival.

Marcelo Gallardo, River's manager, surprised everyone by changing his usual tactical formation (4-4-2) and fielding a five-defender formation (5-3-2) which then became a 3-5-2 with the addition of the Qatar 2022 world champions Gonzalo Montiel on the right and Marcos Acuña on the other side.

The first few minutes were slightly in favor of River Plate, who had more possession but, as has happened in several matches in 2025, they lacked clarity in attack to generate goal-scoring plays.

Nothing significant happened until almost the end of the first half. But just before halftime, Boca struck with a precise counter-attack, after a long ball from Costa was received by Zeballos, who broke free and finished into an empty net after his initial shot was saved by goalkeeper Franco Armani.

The advantage was already a good difference for Boca, who hammered away in their first clear play, but they were going to strike twice at the start of the second half when Zeballos recovered on River's right exit, broke away at speed and assisted Merentiel, who made it 2-0.

That electrifying burst from Changuito Zeballos was enough for Boca, as the second goal left River bewildered, exposed to being thrashed, but Boca striker Milton Giménez had a fateful afternoon and squandered two clear chances to increase the score.

Claudio Ubeda, Boca's interim coach after the death of Miguel Ángel Russo on October 8, dedicated the victory to him: "a large part of everything you see in the team is his image."

With the victory, Boca secured their place in the group stage of the 2026 Copa Libertadores as runners-up to Rosario Central in the annual table, even though they still have the possibility of being Clausura champions, since they also secured their place in the round of 16.

"We are happy with the victory. This team deserved to qualify for the Libertadores Cup, and we were able to take that step. I'm also happy to have scored a goal against River, which means a lot to me," said Merentiel, who reached 48 goals with the Boca Juniors jersey.