Instituto – Boca Juniors: Boca Share Points with League Leaders to Extend Their Unbeaten Run (2-2)
Boca Juniors’ control didn’t guarantee victory as they had to fight back their way into the game. Instituto’s approach to cede control gave Boca momentum but this didn’t stop them from putting the ball in the back of the net.
Tactical analysis and match report by Ebuka Ogoegbunam.
The home side sat top of the league in the build up to this game. With eight wins in their last eleven games, they had shown a strong start to the season while also imposing themselves on the league standings. Boca Juniors also found themselves in top form before this game.
They had only lost one game which was the first match of the Clausura. Both teams came into the game in high spirits, looking to give a good fight at the very top of the standings, with Boca sitting in fourth place while Instituto were looking to extend their lead at the top of the table.
Instituto started with Marcos Ledesma in goal, with Jonathan Galván, Leonel Mosevich, and Fernando Alarcón forming the back three, while Diego Sosa and Giuliano Cerato operated on the left and right wing back respectively.
In midfield, Gustavo Abregú and Matías Gallardo provided the central presence, with Alex Luna and Jeremías Lázaro supporting Matías Tissera in attack.
For the away side, Boca Juniors, on the other hand, lined up with Álvaro Montero in goal. Malcom Braida, Lautaro Di Lollo, Marco Pellegrino, and Lautaro Blanco formed the back four, with Milton Delgado and Williams Alarcón providing the midfield base. Further forward, Leonel Flores, Carlos Palacios and Sebastián Villa supported Enner Valencia, who led the line in attack.
Instituto’s defensive plan
Boca Juniors started the game with a lot of possession against an Instituto side that would stay in their shape and cover the central spaces. Boca’s 4-2-3-1 shape often shifted to a 3-4-3/3-4-2-1 shape with one of the midfielders dropping into the first line of build up. This was done a lot by W. Alarcón.
Boca’s wingers acted as inside wingers at times, rotating with the fullbacks who held the width. The attacking midfielder, Palacios, dropped from his attacking position into midfield to bring support into build up.
Instituto set up in a 5-2-3 defensive block, blocking central passes and restricting the usage of central passing lanes into Boca’s narrow wingers. While the first line in the block looked to cover the central lanes, Boca’s rotations made it easier to take advantage of Instituto’s narrow setup.
A back three gave more angles for the Boca backline to play into wide areas. The fullbacks were used to get the team higher up the pitch early on, using wide areas to access the middle and final third of the pitch. Braida on the right hand side was the player that was targeted more in this regard.
Boca’s build up structure: W. Alarcón dropping into the first line, giving more angles in for the first line to access the fullbacks to help progression.
Although the fullbacks were the constant means of progression for Boca, Instituto did a good job defending these sequences. When Boca tried to play inside, the wide center backs did a good job of jumping to the inside wingers between the lines.
Boca also used long balls to try to access the final third. Again, Braida was the target here. Flores took advantage of his central position to draw F. Alarcón, the defender, out of his line. Doing this isolated Braida and Sosa.
When Braida made attacking runs in the final third, Boca’s first line in build up played long towards him but he failed to do much with those attacking sequences.
Instituto made it difficult for Boca offensively, especially in wide areas. When Blanco and Braida put in crosses, Valencia was tightly marked in the box and failed to get on the end of anything.
Boca’s long balls towards Braida with the help of Flores’ decoy action to create isolation in wide areas.
Instituto’s structural rewards
Instituto’s defensive structure allowed the wingers to stay high up instead of tracking Boca’s fullbacks and their aggressive wide center backs, who jumped to engage opposition players between the lines, demonstrated their intent to exploit these opportunities.
When Boca had turnovers, Instituto always used their wingers to try and generate transitions. The Boca fullbacks were high up in these moments and this made it easier to attack the space Boca had conceded in wide areas. Instituto eventually used this sequence to win a set piece, which they scored from.
Instituto’s rest attack; Instituto’s rest attacking structure took advantage of Boca’s high fullbacks.
Instituto on the ball were very direct and at times failed to make anything meaningful with their possession. This led to constant turnovers which Boca gained momentum from. However, in build up, they were able to beat Boca’s high a press in some moments.
Boca pressed in a 4-1-4-1 set up against Instituto’s 3-4-3 shape in build up. W. Alarcón for Boca was used to screen the backline. Boca’s wingers faced 2v1s in wide areas, with either the wide center backs or wingback free. Instituto found their wingbacks and were able to beat Boca’s pressing structure. They were also able to attack quickly and find the inside wingers.
Instituto’s build up structure, using the wingbacks to find the inside wingers.
Boca got back into the game from a set piece of their own. Blanco’s delivery into the box was spilled by Ledesma which was turned in by Valencia to make it level at the break.
Boca’s fight back
Towards the end of the first half, Boca started looking to penetrate the central areas more, using their inside wingers, attacking midfielder and the holding midfielder. They were able to play through using central overloads and break lines. Palacios, Flores, Villa and Delgado were key to Boca’s central play
This continued in the second half as Instituto’s mid-block became less compact than what was seen earlier in the game. Not too long after the second half resumed, Instituto found the net again from another corner. Galván was able to score from close range after Mosevich’s header was played into his path.
This gave Instituto spirit and confidence following the goal, with the fans making it harder for Boca. The Boca players didn’t deviate from their roles but attacked with more urgency. Flores moved more into the central areas, making it difficult for the Instituto defenders to pick him up in certain moments and Boca kept finding him to attack.
Flores moved more centrally, giving his teammates a better chance of finding him between the lines with less pressure.
In the 56th minute, Boca were able to use these openings they created between the lines to score. This came from the intent to break lines in central areas. Palacios dropped deep in build up to bait pressure….
This created overloads in central areas and Palacios took the opportunity to find Blanco in space. Blanco’s low driven cross found the substitute, Miguel Merentiel in the box to slot the ball past the goalkeeper.
Boca’s equalizer; Palacios overloads the midfield, leaving Blanco free to receive the ball and drive to find Merentiel.
As the game was level, it became harder for both teams to settle with the ball as the intensity and urgency increased later in the game. Both sides looked for the winner but neither could finish off the chances they created for themselves later in the game. Both sides had to settle for a point after a thrilling contest.
Takeaways
Instituto and Boca Juniors shared the points in an intense contest, with both sides showing their attacking threat through different approaches. Instituto’s disciplined 5-2-3 defensive block initially restricted Boca’s central progression, while their direct attacking transitions exploited the spaces left behind by Boca’s advanced fullbacks. Their threat from set pieces proved decisive, with goals from two corners giving the hosts opportunities to take control of the game.
Boca gradually found ways to penetrate Instituto’s defensive structure by increasing their presence in central areas and creating overloads between the lines. Their improved combinations helped them recover from Instituto’s second goal, with Miguel Merentiel equalizing after a move involving Carlos Palacios and Lautaro Blanco.
The 2-2 draw left Instituto top of Group A with 26 points from 12 matches, maintaining their lead over Defensa y Justicia, who had 24 points. Boca remained third with 21 points, five behind Instituto, extending their unbeaten run but missing the opportunity to close the gap on the leaders. Both sides ultimately had to settle for a point after an entertaining contest.
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