Boca Juniors let victory slip v Gimnasia de Mendoza after Zenón goal | OneFootball

Gimnasia and Boca put together what was possibly the match of the round in Mendoza. With plenty of chances at both ends, goals, and even controversy, El Lobo and El Xeneize gave it everything and ended up sharing the spoils thanks to the opportunism of Esteban Fernández, who took advantage of a mistake in the visitors’ defense in stoppage time to seal the final 2-2. Earlier, El Vasco Arruabarrena’s side had gone ahead twice through goals by Alan Velasco and Kevin Zenón in the first half (Ignacio Sabatini had temporarily equalized). Darío Herrera was the referee.

The home side was the one that took the initiative from the start, creating a clear scoring chance in the very first minute: a cross from Cingolani and a first-time shot from Lencioni that Montero did well to parry away, with help from the post to prevent the first goal. Soon after, the visitors struck: Velasco found the ball in the box after Belmonte had battled for it and curled it into the top corner, leaving Rigamonti’s dive useless. Boca barely had time to celebrate, because Sabatini pounced on another loose ball in attack, turned Pellegrino, and finished to level the match.

After a brilliant backheel from Velasco to Gorosito opened the move, a low cross from Boca’s right-back was turned into the net by Zenón just before the end of the first half. The team from La Ribera could have extended the lead with a Velasco shot — after a pass from Flores — that crashed off the post, so they went into the break with only a narrow advantage. In the second half, Darío Franco’s men pushed further up the field and, without much clarity, pinned their opponent back near its own goal. Through sheer determination, Sabatini scored the second from the rebound after a wide free kick, but the referee disallowed it after consulting VAR (Silvio Trucco), who spotted a marginal offside.

Beyond a few counterattacks wasted by Boca, Arruabarrena understood it was time to protect the lead and added aerial strength with the introductions of Facundo Herrera and Lautaro Di Lollo, using them to form a back five near the end. The Mendoza side did not give up and got their reward in the 93rd minute, after a weak clearance by Jagger Herrera was seized upon by Fernández. There was no time for anything else, and each side took a point.

With this result, Gimnasia missed the chance to move into the qualification zone for the 2027 Copa Sudamericana, but they remain at the top of Zone A (this round they can be overtaken by Instituto and Defensa, while Vélez could draw level with them). With the two points they let slip, Boca remained four behind the leaders of the overall table (Independiente Rivadavia and Argentinos Juniors), while securing their place in the Clausura round-of-16 qualification spots, although they could still drop as low as eighth depending on other results.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.