River Plate achieves a revitalizing victory against Boca Juniors in the Superclásico

River Plate secured a valuable 2-1 victory over Boca Juniors this Sunday in the latest edition of the Argentine Superclásico, a match corresponding to the fifteenth round of the Argentine Apertura Tournament.

With goals from Franco Mastantuono and Sebastián Driussi, El Millonario gave their fans great joy at a Monumental Stadium that had the largest attendance in history this Sunday: 85,018, against a rival who had achieved a temporary draw through Uruguayan Miguel Ángel Merentiel.

With this victory in the interzonal, River Plate climbed to third place in Group B with 28 points, four behind leader Rosario Central, while Boca Juniors remains top of Group A with 32 points despite this afternoon's defeat.

River Plate climbs to third place in Group B, while Boca Juniors remains top of Group A.

The match was dominated from the start by Marcelo Gallardo's team, which came out determined to clearly defeat its arch-rivals.

In the first 15 minutes, he had three headers through Giuliano Galoppo, Franco Mastantuono, and Facundo Colidio, but they always found a well-positioned Agustín Marchesín.

Boca, meanwhile, was always on the defensive and by the 23rd minute had already booked three players: Tomás Belmonte, Ayrton Costa and Marcos Rojo.

The latter was shown a yellow card for a harsh challenge on Sebastián Driussi, and in that foul, 'wonderboy' Franco Mastantuono masterfully executed a shot that went into the top left corner of the goalposts to open the scoring.

River maintained its territorial and ball control, but in the 37th minute, a shot from the front found a poor resolution in Germán Pezzella's clearance, leaving Uruguayan Miguel Ángel Merentiel on the run to finish across the net and equalize the score.

However, in the 44th minute, a cross from Marcos Acuña found a header from Sebastián Driussi, which found Marchesín reacting and leaving a rebound for Driussi himself to push the ball into the net.

New record: 264 matches with 92 wins for Boca and 88 for River

In the second half, River retreated to counterattack, and Boca gained ground on the offensive, but the home side had the best chances to extend their lead.

In the 52nd minute, a cross from substitute Fabricio Bustos ended with Sebastián Driussi firing a shot over the crossbar, and six minutes later, a shot bounced off Miton Delgado and left Franco Mastantuono on the loose, but he chose to finish wide before passing the goal to Facundo Colidio, who was facing the goal.

Boca made good connections but lacked depth, and coach Fernando Gago was slow to rotate the bench to find answers.

At the end, Franco Armani appeared to save the tie twice and seal River Plate's victory, to the delight of their fans against their eternal rival, Boca Juniors, at home.

Argentina's two biggest clubs now have a record of 264 meetings, with Boca Juniors winning 92 of them and River Plate winning 88 of them, while they drew 84 times.