Úbeda’s surprise: starting player benched for 10 games vs Estudiantes | OneFootball

The player from Lanús will once again be a starter for the Xeneize due to the absences of Paredes and Battaglia. He will share the midfield with Milton Delgado.

The tear in the left calf muscle of Rodrigo Battaglia and the suspension of Leandro Paredes due to an accumulation of yellow cards opened an unexpected door in Boca's midfield ahead of the crucial match against Estudiantes next Sunday. With his great comeback against Barracas Central, Milton Delgado secured his spot, while Tomás Belmonte won the battle against Ander Herrera and will have a golden opportunity to regain the importance he lost in recent matches.

Toto joined the Xeneize in mid-2024 for three million dollars and, although he has played a lot since then, he never fully convinced the fans and was often the target of criticism. Nevertheless, alongside Delgado, they were immovable in the midfield when Fernando Gago was the coach.

Against Benfica in the Club World Cup, the first match of Miguel Ángel Russo's third cycle at the club, he started on the bench, but a tear in Ander returned him to the starting eleven. Against the Portuguese team and against Bayern Munich, he was one of the team's highlights, which led him to maintain his position at the start of the Torneo Clausura: he was a starter against Argentinos, Unión, and Huracán.

In the week following the defeat against Globo, he suffered a grade III tear in the right hamstring. That injury sidelined him from the squad for the next four matches, and he only returned to the list for the clash against Rosario Central. By that time, the Battaglia-Paredes duo had solidified in the center of the field, which caused his absence in the following four matches.

During that period, Herrera returned to the field after three months and saw minutes in the last four matches for the Xeneize, which suggested he had the upper hand in the head-to-head with Belmonte, who played the last 13 minutes against Barracas after nine matches without action.

However, in Thursday's tactical training at La Bombonera, Claudio Úbeda chose to place the Lanús academy graduate in the starting team and the Basque among the substitutes. Barring any issues, Belmonte will share the center with Delgado as in those times when Gago was the coach. Undoubtedly, it will be a great opportunity for Toto to establish himself as a reliable substitute for a midfield that has been one of the team's highlights this semester.

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