Boca Juniors defeated Deportivo Recoleta 3-1 in the Sudamericana Round of 16 on Tuesday evening. The match, played at the home ground, turned on its head after just five minutes when the visitors took the lead through P. Rios. That moment came to define the rest of the contest, though not in the way anyone expected.
Things shifted at the interval when W. Baez received a red card in the 45th minute plus two. By then Recoleta had already shown a yellow card through A. Franco, but losing a player changed everything. The home side made three substitutions at the break, bringing on L. Blanco, P. Charpentier and A. Franco all at once.
The floodgates opened immediately. S. Ascacibar scored in the 49th minute, then M. Delgado added another two minutes later. L. Flores completed the scoring in the 62nd minute, ending a barren spell for the home side. Three goals in the opening half after the dismissal felt like punishment for the visitors' inability to hold on.
D. Mosquera compounded the problem with a second yellow and red card in the 69th minute. Boca kept their heads after that, and here's the thing — they had already made their own substitutions through A. Costa and A. Gonzalez before the visitor's double dismissal. The home side then saw it out without further incident.
The statistics tell the story of total control. Boca enjoyed 77 per cent possession, sent 190 attacks into the final third and registered 31 shots compared to four from the visitors. They created four big chances and had an expected goals tally of 4.45, yet only converted three. Eight shots went on target and eight missed, suggesting they could have done better with their chances.
The result matters because Deportivo Recoleta sit top of their table with eight points from six games — one win and five draws. That record made them dangerous opponents, but this performance showed why they have not won since their opening fixture. Boca advance on the aggregate score, having turned a narrow deficit into a comfortable victory after the turning point at half time.