Platense defeated Instituto 2-1 in the match played this afternoon at the Ciudad de Vicente López stadium, for the second date of the 2026 Apertura Tournament. In a match covered by the Noticias Argentinas agency, forwards Franco Zapiola and Tomás Nasif scored for the home team, while the attacker Alex Luna had achieved the partial equalizer for the Córdoba-based team. Thus, in the match that opened the second round, Platense topped Zone A with four points, while "La Gloria" occupies the last place in the group without points. In the next round, "The Squid" will visit Talleres on Saturday, January 31, starting at 22:00, while the team coached by Daniel Oldrá will receive Lanús on Tuesday, February 3 at 21:15. The first chance was for Instituto, which could have been an incredible own goal. After a long pass, defender Eugenio Raggio tried to clear from the edge of the area, although his clearance was faulty and went past goalkeeper Matías Borgogno, who had to run backwards and managed to deflect the ball before it entered the goal. Platense had its first dangerous attack in the 21st minute, when winger Juan Gauto controlled a rebound at the left vertex of the area, cushioned with his chest and shot on the first touch, although his shot went wide to the far post. Two minutes later, a good individual play by forward Alex Luna allowed his shot from inside the area, with a powerful but centralized shot, which Borgogno held without problems. "The Squid" opened the scoring in the 29th minute, through an error by goalkeeper Manuel Roffo, who came out of the area to head clear unnecessarily and couldn't do so, with a ball that was left loose and Zapiola could push into the open goal. Zapiola generated danger again seven minutes later, with a good run from the right to the center and a low and crossed left-footed shot, that went near Roffo's left post. In the 17th minute of the second half, a good through ball left Jara one-on-one on the right side of the area, who shot low and crossed but couldn't beat Borgogno, with a great save on his right post. In his second attempt at danger, in the 28th minute, Instituto equalized the score. It was through a good run down the right by attacker Luca Rafaelli, who chipped in a cross for Luna to cross his shot and make it 1-1. Only two minutes passed and the brown-shirted team went ahead again, with a good cross from the left by Gauto that set up forward Tomás Nasif, who adjusted his header against the near post for the 2-1. In the 36th minute, attacker Manuel Tucker took a powerful shot from the edge of the area, which Roffo deflected onto his left post, at medium height. Match details: Apertura Tournament 2026. Zone A. Date 2. Platense 2 - 1 Instituto. Stadium: Ciudad de Vicente López. Referee: Bruno Amiconi. VAR: Yamil Possi. Platense: Matías Borgogno; Juan Saborido, Ignacio Vázquez, Eugenio Raggio, Tomás Silva; Maximiliano Amarfil, Felipe Bussio; Guido Mainero, Franco Zapiola, Juan Gauto; Leonardo Heredia. DT: Walter Zunino. Instituto: Manuel Roffo; Leonel Mosevich, Jonathan Galván, Fernando Alarcón; Giuliano Cerato, Franco Moyano, Juan Méndez, Diego Sosa; Luca Rafaelli, Franco Jara, Alex Luna. DT: Daniel Oldrá. Goal in the first half: 29m. Franco Zapiola (P). Goals in the second half: 28m. Alex Luna (I); 30m. Tomás Nasif (P). Substitutions in the second half: at the start.
