Boca travels to Deportivo Recoleta in Paraguay for Copa Sudamericana round of 16 second leg

With a 3-1 lead from the first leg, Boca has all but punched its ticket to the quarterfinals, but there's still a match to be played, and it's no easy venue: on Tuesday, August 18, the club travels to face Deportivo Recoleta at Estadio Defensores del Chaco for the second leg of the round of 16 in the 2026 Copa Sudamericana.

Kickoff is set for 7:00 PM (ARG/URU), 6:00 PM (Chile) and 5:00 PM (Colombia, Peru and Ecuador), with the match streaming live on Disney+ Plan Premium, exclusive to South America.

Is managing the lead enough, or does Boca need to go out and chase the game? That's the question looming over this final leg of the tie. In the first leg, at La Bombonera, Boca fell behind early: Pedro Ríos put the visitors ahead, but Rodolfo Arruabarrena's side flipped the result with goals from Santiago Ascacibar, Milton Delgado and Leonel Flores to seal a 3-1 final score. Not bad against an opponent that, as became clear that night, didn't come just to make up the numbers.

That's exactly why the trip to Paraguay is no formality. Recoleta gave Boca trouble in Argentina and now needs to overturn a two-goal deficit on its own field, a task that demands urgency from the opening whistle with no room to play it safe.

The names who could decide it

For the Paraguayan side, the attacking threat runs through Paul Charpentier and Lucas González, tasked with creating danger up front. For Boca, the main absence is Leandro Paredes, which means the burden of running the show once again falls on Santiago Ascacibar, who has become the team's top scorer and arrives at this matchup in fine form. The youth academy is also contributing: Leonel Flores and Tomás Aranda have been logging minutes with skill, grit and directness, exactly what's often needed in a second leg with the tie in hand.

Neither team was at its best in the most recent round of league play. Recoleta fell 2-1 to 2 de Mayo in the Paraguayan league, while Boca drew 1-1 on the road against Platense in the 2026 Torneo Clausura. Results that fade into the background the moment the ball starts rolling in a Copa Sudamericana tie.

Boca knows this tournament is the season's big objective, and advancing past the round of 16 would be a logical next step after what it did in the first leg. For Recoleta, though, this is the last chance to pull off an upset at home, with Defensores del Chaco as an ally and the obligation to take risks from the very start.