Nasty surprises – but not so much shocks – for River and Boca

As we all know very well, the Liga Profesional de Fútbol never loses the ability to spring a surprise. It therefore comes as no shock to stare down at the league table (or tables, as is the case these days) and see Independiente Rivadavia leading the way in Group B with four wins out of four, closely followed by the likes of Vélez, Tigre and Belgrano – the latter almost halfway already to their points total across the whole of last year’s wretched Clausura campaign. 

Conversely, having come within a couple of minutes of winning the whole thing in December, Racing opened the Apertura with three straight losses before bouncing back with their first win at the expense of Argentinos Juniors.

Giants River and Boca, meanwhile, are licking their wounds and asking some tough questions after two bruising defeats over the weekend.

We will start at the Monumental, which played host to a catastrophe of near-historic proportions on Saturday night. The feeling around River was upbeat: a new-look Millonario side had opened the season with two wins and a draw, with Aníbal Moreno standing out thanks to his dynamic performances in midfield following a transfer from Palmeiras.

Then, just like that, Moreno found himself in the eye of the storm as a dreadful mistake let Tigre’s Ignacio Russo steal in and score in front of a dumbstruck home crowd. The fact that River were already down 2-0 by that point, outgunned by a clinical Matador, was besides the point. 

River still had further depths to plumb, with Russo adding Tigre’s fourth shortly after, and a late consolation for the hosts barely raised a cheer as Gallardo suffered one of the worst defeats of his long and storied tenure in Núñez.

It was precisely the kind of setback the coach did not need. Last year, 2025, was little short of a disaster for River and Gallardo was determined to turn the page on that unpleasant chapter, again spending heavily and widely in January to bolster a squad long on star names but short on consistency. 

Now, and despite signing a fresh contract at the end of last year, scrutiny over the coach’s future at River is bound to increase, with this weekend’s visit to dangerous Argentinos Juniors potentially crucial.

Over in La Boca, meanwhile, a story which has become depressingly familiar to Xeneize fans seems to be playing out again. 

In recent years the likes of Sebastián Battaglia and Hugo Ibarra have ridden decent interim periods on the Boca bench to win the head coach job, only to find that taking the role on a permanent basis is a much tougher (and most definitely not permanent) prospect. Now Claudio Úbeda, who distinguished himself after stepping into the breach following the passing of Miguel Ángel Russo, risks suffering a very similar fate just four games in.

Early losses against Estudiantes de la Plata and Vélez Sarsfield have certainly warmed Úbeda’s seat. The spotlight is also on president Juan Román Riquelme after a quiet transfer window headed by the signing of Estudiantes bruiser Santiago Ascacibar. 

On Sunday Boca begin a run of three straight home games with the visit of Platense, and if the defeats begin seeping over into La Bombonera, the temptation to make another coaching change, which would be Riquelme’s seventh in less than six years (not counting Russo’s sad passing) might be irresistible.