Estudiantes – Deportivo Riestra
Estudiantes rested several regular starters on Monday in their visit to Defensa y Justicia, had to deal with a red card in the 33rd minute and even faced a penalty against them, but still managed to come away with a 0-0 draw — largely thanks to a stellar performance from goalkeeper Fabricio Iacovich. As a result, El Pincha have collected five points from three matches in the Torneo Apertura and extended their unbeaten league run to seven games (four wins and three draws). In Matchday 2, Estudiantes had defeated Boca Juniors 2-1 at home after suffering two consecutive losses at the Estadio Jorge Luis Hirschi. Deportivo Riestra showed clear improvement in Round 3, but were heavily affected by refereeing decisions (a wrongly disallowed goal and a penalty for them that ended up being given against them in stoppage time), and ultimately drew 1-1 away at Barracas Central. As a result, they picked up their first point of the Torneo Apertura and extended their winless run in league play to seven matches (two draws and five defeats). Away from home, Riestra are now five games without a victory, drawing three and losing two. On Thursday, February 5, they won 1-0 over Deportivo Maipú in the first round of the Copa Argentina. I’ll take Estudiantes here. Didn’t expect them to be this solid after losing a couple of important players during the preseason but they’ve looked good, while Riestra is not the solid team they used to be, and they have only 1 point and 1 goal scored after 3 games.