Boca Juniors host São Paulo in heavyweight clash with both sides needing to advance

Boca Juniors and São Paulo meet for the first time in the Copa Sudamericana on Tuesday, bringing together two of South America’s biggest clubs in a quarterfinal series. Their broader international history includes 12 matches, with Boca winning five, São Paulo four and three ending in draws.

Boca enter the tie with a long injury list. Midfielder Milton Delgado, central to the team’s balance, has missed the last two matches with a muscular problem. He joins Tomás Aranda, Malcom Braida, Ayrton Costa, Adam Bareiro and Agustín Marchesín among the unavailable players.

The Argentine side have changed their approach compared with the previous half-season, although the results remain inconsistent. A 2-2 draw away to Gimnasia y Esgrima de Mendoza on Saturday was Boca’s fifth draw in eight Torneo Clausura matches. They have also relied on penalties to progress, beating Vélez in the Copa Argentina after a 0-0 draw and overcoming Chile’s O’Higgins in the Sudamericana playoff after another shootout.

São Paulo arrive with a different problem: they have gone 12 away matches without a win. Their last victory on the road came on April 7, when they beat Uruguay’s Boston River 1-0 in the Sudamericana group stage. The club were eliminated in the fifth round of the Copa do Brasil and sit 10th in the Brazilian league, almost 10 points behind leaders Flamengo.

Coach Dorival Júnior called the tie “extremely important, a South American classic.” The series is also significant for the club’s assessment of his first half-season. Argentina forward Jonathan Calleri, who is returning from a serious injury, played 30 minutes on Saturday. If he comes on at La Bombonera, he will return to the stadium where his professional career began. He played 61 matches for Boca between 2014 and 2016, scoring 23 goals.

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Extremely important, a South American classic.