Argentinos Juniors v Belgrano, Apertura semi-final: watch, XIs, time | OneFootball

Argentinos Juniors and Belgrano will face off starting at 5 p.m. at the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium in the semifinal of the 2026 Torneo Apertura. El Bicho comes into the match after knocking out Lanús and Huracán, while El Pirata eliminated Talleres and Unión, and in La Paternal they will be looking to book a place in the title match. The winner will play the final on Sunday, May 24 in Córdoba against River, which knocked out Rosario Central. Check out the lineups, where to watch it live, and more.

How Argentinos Juniors and Belgrano are coming into the Torneo Apertura semifinal

The La Paternal side is coming off a 1-0 home win over Huracán in the quarterfinals thanks to a goal from Tomás Molina. After a scoreless draw in the 90 minutes, El Bicho’s striker headed home early in extra time, and the score stayed the same, sending Argentinos through to the semifinals.

Before that, they beat Lanús 2-0 in the round of 16, also at home, thanks to goals from Francisco Álvarez and Alan Lescano. Nicolás Diez’s team was one of the best sides in Zone B and therefore finished third with 29 points, which allows them to play the semifinals at the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium.

At the same time, Argentinos heads into this match as an almost unbeatable home team. In their last 25 matches in La Paternal, El Bicho won 17, drew six, and lost only two: 1-0 against Barcelona of Ecuador (they were eliminated on penalties in Phase 2 of the Copa Libertadores) and 2-0 against Aldosivi on Matchday 10 of the 2025 Apertura. In the quarterfinals of the 2025 Apertura, they were eliminated by San Lorenzo on penalties after drawing 1-1 in the 90 minutes.

Belgrano rode out a wave of poor results in the regular phase and arrives at this semifinal in the best possible form. El Pirata came into the decisive matchday having won one of its previous six games, but in Alberdi it crushed Sarmiento 4-0 and finished fifth in Zone B with 26 points, setting up a round-of-16 clash with Talleres, its archrival.

Since La T had finished fourth in Zone A, the Córdoba derby was played at the Kempes with only Talleres fans in attendance, but Belgrano stood firm and won with a goal from Francisco González Metilli at the start of the second half, taking the first head-to-head meeting.

In the quarterfinals, it hosted Unión, which had finished eighth in Zone A and was coming off an upset over Independiente Rivadavia. In Alberdi, El Pirata won 2-0 with goals from Adrián Sánchez and Ramiro Hernandes, securing its place in the semifinals, where it will get back center forward Lucas Passerini, who was sent off against Talleres.

In addition, Belgrano will have the extra motivation that if it reaches the final, it will be played in Córdoba. Beyond the fact that tickets will be split equally between the two finalists, the fact that it will be played in its city will give it an extra boost regardless of the opponent.

The matchup between Argentinos and Belgrano will have an extra edge because last year they met in the Copa Argentina semifinals, a match El Bicho won 2-1 and which unleashed the fury of the Córdoba side over a penalty awarded in favor of the La Paternal team that ended up deciding the match. “So, regardless of the fact that I think we played badly in the second half today and they deserved to equalize, the penalty is a disgrace. How many times are they going to screw us over?”, coach Ricardo Zielinski fired off at the time.

Whoever wins this match will qualify for the Apertura grand final, which will be played next Sunday, May 24 at 3:30 p.m. at the Mario Alberto Kempes Stadium. Their opponent will be River, which knocked out Rosario Central at the Monumental.

Argentinos Juniors’ probable starting XI vs. Belgrano in the Torneo Apertura

Brayan Cortés; Leandro Lozano, Francisco Álvarez, Román Riquelme, Sebastián Prieto; Alan Lescano, Federico Fattori, Nicolás Oroz; Hernán López Muñoz, Tomás Molina, Facundo Jainikoski or Iván Morales. Head coach: Nicolás Diez.

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