The 2026 Women's Apertura Tournament continues to roll with more and more excitement and unmissable duels. After, during the last day, Banfield stumbled again, Talleres caught on among the contenders for the title and both San Lorenzo, Racing and River advanced at a steady pace, date 8 promises to be something to talk about.

Among so many decisive confrontations in all areas of the table, River will visit Talleres, San Lorenzo will receive Banfield and Racing will closely observe what happens in such duels of title candidates, but not before trying to do its thing against Gimnasia.

Matches with history that can change the present: San Lorenzo - Banfield, Lanús - Independiente and Talleres - River are the recommended ones for date 8. (Photos: @BanfieldFutFem/ @clublanus/ @RiverPlateFem)

In this context, FutFemGol chose the three most attractive matches on date 8 of the Women's Apertura Tournament and prepares you for such confrontations with the most relevant data.

The recommended FutFemgol of date 8 of the 2026 Women's Apertura Tournament

The race for the title enters a crucial stretch: San Lorenzo will host Banfield

Without a doubt, among the most serious candidates for the Women's Apertura Tournament are San Lorenzo and Banfield. Both have added 5 victories in 7 disputes and have given up the lead in the championship in previous rounds. The two teams come from facing direct rivals with the same quest: Santitas did better and won 4-1 on their visit to Gimnasia, while Banfield was unable to play at home and lost 1-0 to Talleres.

Thanks to the goals of Delfina Pafundi, Emily Arias, Débora Molina and Luciana Zacmon, San Lorenzo turned around what had been an early opening of the scoreboard by Florencia Gaetán. With their victory against Gimnasia, they reached 16 points.

For its part, Azul Ludueña marked the victory of Talleres to leave Banfield 4th with its 15 units, still well planted in the table due to the great start to the season it had.

San Lorenzo comes from beating 4-1 in its visit to Gimnasia for date 7 of the Women's Apertura Tournament. (Photo: @CASLAFFemenino)

It will be a very even duel, or at least that is what their history indicates: out of 7 disputes they tied only once and each one won 3 matches. The last time they measured their strength was in the tiebreaker match of the Second 2025 Tournament, in which San Lorenzo won 2-0 with goals from Juana Fonseca and Katherine Castillo. In Banfield's last visit to Ciudad Deportiva, the venue that will host the next match, they tied 0-0 in September of last year, just a month before the other mentioned match.

Speaking of background, it is impossible not to remember Pafundi's agonizing goal at the Florencio Sola Stadium, Banfield's main stadium, which gave San Lorenzo the 2024 Clausura Tournament. The ex-Huracán comes from applying the Law of the Ex to Gimnasia, and equaled Camila López, Arias and Molina in 3 points as the Santitas' top scorers.

Yosneidy Zambrano and Agustina Aguilera, during Banfield's most recent loss to Talleres. (Photo: @BanfieldFutFem)

Franco Bertera's team is a very deep team in attack, but they will have to face an extremely strong defense, such as that of Taladro, which also has Carolina Imbrogiano in its ranks, who played for many years in Ciclón and knows her last teammates well. San Lorenzo will host Banfield at Ciudad Deportiva on Friday, May 22 at 3:00 p.m., a promising match that will be broadcast for free on LPF Play.

Lanús - Independiente: the direct duel of stragglers with encouraging presents

It is easy to talk about the teams at the top of the Women's Apertura Tournament, but there are hot duels in all areas of the table. Both Lanús and Independiente had two fateful starts to the season, but they knew how to change their face and rebounded in the last few days. Now the Granates lie 14th, after adding their first 4 points, while Independiente climbed to 10th place with 7 points.

Both teams come to this crossroads with encouraging results. Lanús comes from beating Belgrano 3-2 and drawing without goals with Huracán, and Independiente drew 2-2 against Unión but beat S.A.T 1-0. and Saint Louis. They have had 3 official confrontations in the semi-professional era: the Garnets won the first 2, but the Devils emerged victorious from the last dispute.

Oriana Villa has scored 2 consecutive goals and is, with 3 goals, Independiente's top scorer. (Photo: @orianavilla29)

This dates back to the seventh date of the 2023 YPF Championship, more than 3 years ago, coincidentally at the Valentín Alsina Premises - the same venue as the next duel. With a double from Gabriela Herrera and the same from Mercedes Pereyra, apart from the discount from Alicia Zaracho, Independiente won in the house of Lanús. Since then they did not cross paths again, until the most recent return of the Garnets to the top category.

In Independiente, the name of Oriana Villa, the team's top scorer with 3 goals, resonates strongly, having just scored 2 consecutive goals. Lanús also has a notable offensive weapon: Brenda Varela, who scored 2 goals and played for Rojo between 2023 and 2024. Other current Granates who previously coincided as Diablas are Laura Sampedro and Nazareth Dos Santos, who played for their next rival from 2019 to 2021.

Brenda Varela, who scored a double against Belgrano and is Lanús' top scorer, played more than a year at Independiente. (Photo: @Ph.juanecannataro)

Lanús will also face an old well-known face, but who has less prominence: Andrea Utz, today a replacement in the Independiente goal. It will undoubtedly be an exciting match, which will be played at the Valentín Alsina Premises on Saturday, May 23 from 10 a.m. and will be broadcast for free on LPF Play.

A rising Talleres fantasizes about dethroning River, which is flying higher than ever

If something is characterizing the 2026 Apertura Tournament, it is that nothing is guaranteed and there may be unimaginable surprises day by day. River started the year in excellent shape and Talleres began to function as planned with the reinforcements it sought in the last market. Today the Millonarias are the only undefeated team in the championship, leading it with 19 points, and the Matadoras follow them in 5th place with 12 points.

This date faces them in their best moments. Talleres has just added its third consecutive victory on its visit to Banfield, with a goal from Azul Ludueña. River, for its part, beat Boca for the first time - also reaching its third win in a row -, consolidated itself as the leader alone and continues to be the only undefeated team in the competition. But not everything is explained by the present of these teams.

Mercedes Diz, the scorer of the goal of River's historic victory over Boca. (Photo: @RiverPlateFem)

Talleres and River faced each other 3 times: they tied 2 and T won once. The most recent antecedent between the two was at the La Boutique Stadium, the same venue that will see them soon, where they tied without goals. In November of last year, in the Quarterfinals of the Second 2025 Tournament, the Millonarias ended up reaching the Semis through penalties and left the Matadoras empty-handed.

As if that were not enough, there are a lot of relevant names that add a lot of spice to such a confrontation. The thing is that Talleres has 6 former River figures, such as Agustina Vargas, Belén Ludueña, Catalina Primo, Daniela Pontel, Giuliana González and Stephanie Melgarejo (maternity leave).

Talleres has just beaten Banfield with a goal from Azul Ludueña and, thus, added its third consecutive victory. (Photo: @talleres.fem)

River also has considerable threats. Talleres has to closely watch Kimberly Campos and Francisca Altgelt, among many figures, who have 5 goals and 5 assists so far in the championship. This unmissable duel will close the date and will take place at La Boutique on Monday, May 25, from 5:30 p.m.

Guaranteed excitement in the Women's Apertura: the recommended FutFemgol of date 8

As on all dates, FutFemGol chose the most attractive duels of the eighth day of an Apertura Tournament that does not slow down.