Boca Juniors, under coach Claudio Úbeda, will seek to impose himself for the second time in a classic since taking charge of the 'Xeneize' in September 2025. According to the Argentine News Agency, the 56-year-old coach has only won one match of this caliber since his appointment, though it was the most important: he won the Superclásico of the 2025 Closing Tournament 2-0. Boca will host Independiente this Saturday, April 11th, starting at 7:30 PM, at La Bombonera, in a match where they will aim to maintain their good form. Although he was questioned during the first matches of this season, Claudio Úbeda maintains a 10-match unbeaten streak across all competitions, has accumulated 66% of the points, and won his debut in the Copa Libertadores, though he still has a pending debt: his effectiveness in the classics. Since his arrival at the helm of the 'Xeneize', with two matches directed prior to his ratification in the role following the unfortunate death of Miguel Ángel Russo, the coach has directed four classics and has only managed to secure the three points in one of them. In just his sixth match in charge of Boca, Claudio Úbeda faced the tough task of a Superclásico against River Plate, at home, on November 9th of last year. Still as an interim coach, he was ratified in the final days of 2025, Úbeda had accumulated three wins and two defeats in his first five matches, with mixed opinions on whether he should continue in charge of the club's first team, although he had a dream Superclásico. On a great afternoon at La Bombonera, where winger Exequiel 'Changuito' Zeballos played one of his best matches since his debut with the first team in 2020, Boca won 2-0 and secured direct qualification to the 2026 Copa Libertadores, something they had not achieved in the previous two seasons. Furthermore, as if that were not enough, he accentuated the crisis that Marcelo Gallardo was going through at the 'Millonario', with his sixth defeat in the last seven matches, which would end up relegating River to play the Copa Sudamericana. Once in the final phase of the Closing, after defeating Talleres 2-0 and Argentinos Juniors 1-0, the 'Xeneize' was a host for Boca in a tournament semi-final that they would lose by the minimum score, which would portray the coach, with a widely questioned substitution: at the 26th minute of the second half, he replaced Zeballos with midfielder Alan Velasco, who had a poor performance at the club. After a decision that drew the reproach of the entire stadium, including captain Leandro Paredes making negative gestures from the center of the pitch, the 'Academia' scored the only goal of the match five minutes later, to sentence Boca's elimination and once again put the focus of public opinion on the coach's continuity. Despite everything, the club's president, Juan Román Riquelme, decided to ratify the former Racing and Rosario Central player in his position, who currently has a 10-match unbeaten streak and comes from winning his debut in the 2026 Libertadores 2-1 against the Catholic University of Chile, having found a better functioning after his first few months in charge when his team was not deploying the play required by the fan. In this season, Claudio Úbeda has directed his third and fourth classic with Boca, with a goalless draw against Racing, on the sixth date, and a 1-1 draw with San Lorenzo, on the tenth date of the Apertura, with a goal from midfielder Santiago Ascacibar. Thus, the coach maintains a 41% effectiveness in classics, with one win, two draws, and one defeat, and will seek to improve this statistic in this Saturday's duel against the 'Red', at home.
