Miguel Merentiel trained well with Boca but may not start Thursday | OneFootball

Boca continues its preparations for the hugely important clash against Universidad Católica, in which its future in the Copa Libertadores will be on the line. In today’s training session, Miguel Merentiel, one of the doubts due to his recent injury, responded well, but he will most likely start on the bench.

La Bestia had been a key player against Cruzeiro, opening the scoring and netting another goal that was ruled out for a prior handball, in a solid performance that quieted criticism over the large number of missed chances. Unfortunately for him, he suffered a muscle tear that kept him out of the starting lineup, but Claudio Úbeda decided to call him up anyway.

The Uruguayan had missed last Friday’s training session as a precaution, but he will be an option off the bench. The one definitely out in attack is Adam Bareiro, who is dealing with a muscle injury in the adductor and left rectus abdominis area.

With this situation, Úbeda is thinking of starting Milton Giménez, who has been playing from the outset, and Exequiel Zeballos, who could have a farewell match in front of his fans, as his time with the club from La Ribera appears to be nearing its end ahead of a move to Napoli.

The other option to patch up the attack is Ángel Romero, who has only made sporadic appearances and has played just six minutes in this Libertadores campaign, but who put in a good performance when Úbeda gave him a chance against Huracán. Much less likely, but also called up for the match, is Lucas Janson, who already had opportunities earlier this year amid the wave of injuries.

Third in Group D with seven points, Boca needs a win against the Chilean side, the leaders with 10, to advance to the Copa Libertadores round of 16. Any other result will eliminate them from the tournament and send them into the Copa Sudamericana playoffs. The decisive match will be on Thursday at 9:30 p.m.

Boca’s probable lineup vs. Universidad Católica in the Copa Libertadores

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