- The ‘Xeneize’ will visit Rancagua aiming to secure a place in the Round of 16
- O'Higgins will look to build on the positive signs from the first leg and overturn the deficit at home.
Boca Juniors will put their continental future on the line in Rancagua after an unexpected weekend setback: they fell 3-0 to Deportivo Riestra in their Argentine Clausura opener. Although coach Rodolfo Arruabarrena rested several players with the clash against the Chilean side in mind, the defeat adds pressure on the ‘Xeneize’, who will have to protect the advantage earned in the first leg at ‘La Bombonera’ thanks to Miguel Merentiel’s goal.
O'Higgins, meanwhile, lost 2-0 to Concepción in domestic competition. Coach Lucas Bovaglio chose to preserve several key players ahead of the decisive continental fixture. The ‘Teniente’ will look to back up the strong performance they produced in Buenos Aires and write a historic chapter for the club. The winner will face Recoleta in the Round of 16.
Match details
Stadium: Codelco El Teniente, Rancagua
Date and kick-off time: Thursday, July 30 at 8:30 p.m.
Referee: Wilmar Roldán (COL)
VAR: David Rodríguez (COL)
The match in numbers:
- Boca won their last three away matches against Chilean opponents in CONMEBOL competitions, equaling their longest winning streak on Chilean soil in continental competition (3W between 1999 and 2001). They will now look to set a new outright club record.
- O'Higgins are unbeaten in their last 13 home matches in CONMEBOL competitions, a run spanning 42 years (6W 7D). During that stretch, the Rancagua side kept 11 clean sheets: the last team to score against them at home was Cerro Porteño in 2014, and they have since gone eight matches without conceding (5W 3D).
- Boca’s Sebastián Villa (7) and Lautaro Blanco (6) were among the four players with the most ball carries ending inside the opposition penalty area during the first legs of the 2026 CONMEBOL Sudamericana playoffs.
- Francisco González scored four of O'Higgins’ six home goals in CONMEBOL competitions this season. Across both the Libertadores and Sudamericana, only one O'Higgins player has scored more continental goals than González (4): Miguel Ángel Neira (6).
- Among players who contested more than five aerial duels during the latest week of the 2026 CONMEBOL Sudamericana, Alan Robledo (O'Higgins) had the highest success rate, winning 83.3% of his aerial duels.
