Boca Juniors – Best players, predicted XI + more

Next up in our FIFA Club World Cup Fantasy 2025 team previews is Boca Juniors, a club synonymous with the late, great Diego Maradona.

Given that their group contains German giants Bayern Munich and part-time New Zealand outfit Auckland City, it’ll likely be a shootout between Boca and Benfica for who nabs the other Group C qualification spot.

In this article, we look at the Argentine side’s best Fantasy assets, as well as documenting their leading goalscorers, top assist makers and set-piece takers.

Data in this piece comes from Fbref and WhoScored.

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BOCA JUNIORS: OVERVIEW

Boca Juniors qualified for the Club World Cup rather fortuitously, with the CONMEBOL ranking system giving them enough points to reach the tournament.

Their run to the 2023 Copa Libertadores final, which they lost to Fluminense, was crucial.

Indeed, they didn’t even make it to the 2024 competition, while they suffered a humiliating exit at the hands of Peruvian outfit Alianza Lima in the qualification play-off stage in 2025.

So, Boca may be a famous club, but this is not a vintage team.

They have not won a trophy since 2022, and were recently eliminated from the Torneo Apertura (the knockout rounds that followed the regular domestic season) by Independiente.

Ignoring a penalty shootout success, they have gone four matches without a normal-time win heading into the Club World Cup.

They will be hoping the arrival of ‘new’ head coach Miguel Ángel Russo will bring about a change in fortunes. Russo joins from San Lorenzo to replace interim boss Mariano Herrón and is set for his third spell at Boca.

Group fixtures

Bookies predictions

League Top Scorers

After 16 games:

• Miguel Merentiel ($6.2m, FWD) – 6
• Milton Gimenez ($4.5m, FWD) – 4
• Carlos Palacios ($5.5m, FWD) 3

League Top Assist-Makers

After 16 games:

• Miguel Merentiel ($6.2m, FWD) – 3
• Carlos Palacios ($5.5m, FWD) – 3
• Lautaro Blanco ($4.9m, DEF) – 2
• Edinson Cavani ($7.2m, FWD) – 2

Set-piece takers

PENALTIES

• Edinson Cavani ($7.2m, FWD)
• Miguel Merentiel ($6.2m, FWD)

Cavani, currently working his way back from a calf injury, has taken and missed Boca’s last two normal-time penalties.

Merentiel scored last July from the spot.

Gimenez, Williams Alarcon ($5.3m) and Marcos Rojo ($5.1m) have scored in both penalty shootouts that Boca have had in the last few months.

CORNERS AND INDIRECT FREE-KICKS

• Kevin Zenon ($5.6m, MID)
• Carlos Palacios ($5.5m, FWD)
• Alan Velasco ($6.0m, FWD)

Zenon and Palacios have taken 40 corners between them this season, more than the rest of the Boca squad combined.

TOP FANTASY PICKS

With a new head coach at the helm (and he’s only days into the job), it’s difficult to know who will be favoured against Benfica. There’s uncertainty over the starting formation, too: Russo mostly used a 4-2-3-1 at San Lorenzo but the 69-year-old has employed a variety of systems in his long career, with suggestions from training that he’s trialling a 4-3-3.

In truth, much of the interest in Boca players will come in Matchday 3, when the minnows of Auckland City provide the opposition. By that point, we will at least be able to suss out Russo’s approach a bit more.

The advice would be to keep the below players on the watchlist until then, rather than make a move now.

Miguel Merentiel ($6.2m) – FWD

Miguel Merentiel is Boca Juniors’ top scorer and assist-maker this season, with seven goals and three assists in 21 matches in all competitions.

Nicknamed ‘La Bestia,’ (‘the beast’), the 29-year-old has recorded 42 goals in 120 appearances for Boca.

His non-penalty xG per 90 minutes of 0.38 ranks him first among his teammates this season.

The ‘per 90’ is key there as, until fairly recently, he was limited mostly to bench duty. Cavani’s injury, however, has paved the way for him to return. Merentiel has started each of the last five matches.

He could, therefore, be an appealing offensive asset if Cavani fails to recover in time for the start of the tournament. The latest on the veteran striker is that he is still training individually and is questionable for the start of the tournament. Perhaps bench duty beckons for the Uruguayan initially.

Whether Merentiel is still in pole position to play part-timers Auckland City in Matchday 3 is another question. One to monitor.

Carlos Palacios ($5.5m) – FWD

Carlos Palacios has been statistically the most creative player at the club this season, even if he has his critics.

The Chilean is joint top at the club for assists (an admittedly modest three) and has made more key passes than any other Boca player (23).

He leads the way at the club for expected assists (2.3), too.

Palacios also features prominently on set-pieces. He is top at Boca for dead-ball passes that led to a shot (10), second for corners taken (19) and third for free-kicks (23) delivered.

His fitness will need monitoring after a recent injury but the early news sounds positive, with the playmaker being reintegrated into training.

While listed as a forward, he has been operating in a ’10’ role this season. How he will fit into a 4-3-3 (and indeed whether he is fit for Matchday 1) remains to be seen; another reason to wait until Matchday 3.

Lautaro Blanco ($4.9m) – DEF

Lautaro Blanco is a defender who likes to get forward and whip over crosses from the left flank.

He has provided two assists this season, ranks second at the club for expected assists (1.7), and leads the way for crosses into the penalty area (10).

Like Palacios, he is joint-top for passes into the penalty area not including set-pieces (13), third among team-mates for key passes (12) and has delivered by far the most total crosses (72) of any Boca player.

EARLY PREDICTED XI