San Martin de San Juan – Deportivo Riestra
San Martín SJ had a tough start to the Torneo Clausura, falling 2-1 away to Atlético Tucumán after conceding the decisive goal in the 95th minute, despite a respectable performance. It marked their third straight league defeat, leaving Leandro Romagnoli’s side at the bottom of the aggregate table and seven points adrift in the relegation standings based on the points average. To make matters worse, San Martín have lost three of their last four home matches, winning only once in that span. Deportivo Riestra once again made home advantage count last Monday, defeating Lanús 1-0 in a hard-fought match thanks to a Jonathan Herrera goal in the 79th minute. With their first three points in the Torneo Clausura, El Malevo climbed into a Copa Sudamericana qualification spot, having lost only one of their last five league matches (two wins and two draws). On the downside, Riestra are winless in their last three away games, with one draw and two defeats. San Martin showed a decent performance in an unlucky last minute defeat in the 1st round, and I expect them bounce back and take the 3 points against this Deportivo Riestra that are super strong at home but a very different team when playing away.