Boca Juniors rallies from behind to beat Talleres 2-1 at La Bombonera

Barely ten minutes had gone by at La Bombonera when Matías Galarza stepped outside the box and curled a right-footed shot into the top corner that left the stadium speechless. Talleres had taken the lead with the kind of goal that gets replayed on highlight shows for weeks. But Boca Juniors needed just seven minutes to answer, and ended up taking the match 2-1, with a second half that could not have started better for the home side.

Galarza's goal, set up by Rick, was a direct hit to the script Boca had in mind. Boca, which came in as the favorite according to our preview, found itself trailing without much warning that it was coming. The response arrived in the 17th minute: Miguel Merentiel finished with his right foot from the left side of the box, after a pass from Lautaro Blanco, to make it 1-1 and settle the crowd back down.

That draw held until halftime, but the second half had barely gotten underway when Boca turned the game around. In the 48th minute, Leonel Flores struck a right-footed shot from the left side of the box, assisted by Milton Delgado, to make it 2-1, the score that would hold up as the final result. There had been warning signs before those three goals: Agustín Álvarez had hit the left post in stoppage time of the first half, and Boca had already created danger through Ascacíbar and Flores, whose attempts missed the target.

Control, but not a rout

The match was close throughout, though with a slight edge to the home side. Boca held a bit more of the ball and was more clinical when it came to testing the opposing goal.

The gap in total shots, 13 to 11, was not nearly as wide as the gap in shots on target: Boca hit the frame five times, while Talleres managed just once. That sharpness accounts for much of the result, even though the game went back and forth for long stretches. Our expected goals estimate, calculated from the shots taken in the match, points the same way: 1.024 for Boca against 0.39 for Talleres, a gap that backs up what the scoreboard ultimately showed, though it's worth noting this figure is calculated after the match and is not a prediction.

That estimate, in fact, lines up with what we had projected before kickoff: we gave Boca a 60% chance of winning, against 28% for a draw and just 12% for a Talleres win, with expected goals of 1.54 for the home side and 0.56 for the visitors. The result ended up matching that forecast, though the path there had the jolt of Galarza's early goal, which for a while cast doubt on the expected script.

What it means in the standings

In Group A, Boca Juniors moved to 24 points from 13 matches played, with a record of 6 wins, 6 draws and 1 loss, holding onto second place, level with Defensa y Justicia and behind leader Instituto, which sits atop the table with 29 points. Talleres de Córdoba, meanwhile, sits in 15th place with 9 points from 13 matches, the product of 2 wins, 3 draws and 8 losses, a record that leaves it with a goal difference of -8. The two sides are separated by 15 points in the standings, a gap that tonight's match, tightly contested for much of the 90 minutes, did not fully reflect on the field.

Boca thus keeps its good run in the league going, while Talleres remains stuck near the bottom of the table, despite having held its own for long stretches of the match at La Bombonera.