Crucial night for Boca in the Libertadores | OneFootball

Claudio Úbeda’s team will decide its future in the group stage and needs a win at La Bombonera to qualify for the round of 16.

Claudio Úbeda’s team will play the final matchday of the tournament’s group stage at home against Universidad Católica, the current group leader, and Cruzeiro will share the two spots in the knockout stage.

The Chilean side is coming off a 2-0 win over Barcelona at its stadium and made things more difficult for the Xeneize heading into the decisive matchday. At the same time as the game at La Bombonera, the other two members of the group will play in Brazil. In any case, Boca has only one possible path to the round of 16: win.

What Boca needs today to qualify for the round of 16

Boca must beat Universidad Católica to advance to the round of 16. If they draw or lose, they will be eliminated.

This is because, if they finish the group stage level on points with Cruzeiro, the head-to-head tiebreaker favors the Brazilian side because it went unbeaten in the two matches between them (1-0 in Belo Horizonte and 1-1 at La Bombonera).

Boca complicated its qualification chances after drawing 1-1 with Cruzeiro at La Bombonera. (Photo: Reuters)

In addition to knocking them out of the Copa Libertadores, if Boca loses, it will go directly to the Copa Sudamericana playoff round. If they play that round, the Xeneize will face teams that finished second in that competition.

In that possible scenario, a potential Superclásico in the Copa Sudamericana cannot be ruled out if Boca and River are drawn into the same bracket. River has already secured a place in the round of 16 and will await Friday’s draw at Conmebol headquarters.

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