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

Argentinos Juniors and Belgrano will face off from 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 arrive at 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 in early in extra time and the score did not change, 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 comes into this match looking almost unbeatable at home. Of 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 then 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 a 1-1 draw in the 90 minutes.

Belgrano rode out a wave of poor results in the regular phase and reaches this semifinal at the best possible time. El Pirata came into the decisive matchday having won one of its last six games, but in Alberdi it crushed Sarmiento 4-0 and qualified 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 eliminating Independiente Rivadavia. In Alberdi, El Pirata won 2-0 with goals from Adrián Sánchez and Ramiro Hernandes to book its place in the semifinals, a stage in which 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 manages to reach 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 their city will give them a boost regardless of their potential opponent.

The clash between Argentinos and Belgrano will have a special twist because last year they met in the Copa Argentina semifinals, a match that El Bicho won 2-1 and that unleashed the fury of the Córdoba side over a penalty awarded to the La Paternal team that ended up deciding the match. “So, regardless of the fact that I think we played poorly in the second half today and they deservedly equalized, the penalty is a disgrace. How many times are they going to screw us over?”, coach Ricardo Zielinski said 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 eliminated Rosario Central at the Monumental.

Argentinos Juniors’ likely 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.