MENDOZA, Argentina (Interstat) — In a stunning opening-weekend upset, Estudiantes de Caseros rode a dominant second-half performance to a 4-1 victory over Gimnasia y Esgrima de Mendoza on Saturday in Argentina’s Primera Nacional.

Playing before a home crowd at Estadio Víctor Antonio Legrotaglie, Gimnasia Mendoza was heavily favored to start its season with a win. Statistical models gave the hosts a 65 percent probability of victory, with a projected final score of a 1-1 draw. The visiting Estudiantes de Caseros defied those expectations completely.

The match remained a tense, defensive affair for the majority of regulation, with the deadlock only broken in the 88th minute. It was then that substitute Alan Martín Cantero, a native of San Juan, Argentina, delivered the decisive blow for Estudiantes de Caseros, scoring to put his team ahead for good. His goal, coming just 24 minutes after he entered the match, sparked a late-game offensive explosion from the visitors, who added three more goals in rapid succession to seal the emphatic win.

The contest was marked by significant discipline issues for the victorious side. Estudiantes de Caseros received three yellow cards, shown to Facundo Abel Pereyra in the 53rd minute, Stefano Brundo in the 57th, and Delfor Minervino in the 68th. The team’s challenge was compounded in the 73rd minute when Lautaro Cruz Lusnig was sent off with a red card, forcing Estudiantes de Caseros to play a man down for the final stretch of the match.

Despite being at a numerical disadvantage, it was the visiting team that found another gear. Gimnasia Mendoza’s only booking was a yellow card to Oscar Ariel Garrido Bigolin in first-half stoppage time.

The result immediately resets the early-season landscape in the Primera Nacional. Estudiantes de Caseros begins its campaign with a perfect 1-0-0 record, while Gimnasia Mendoza starts 0-1-0. The records are identical across all competitions for both clubs. The lopsided victory for the visitors, achieved while shorthanded and on the road against a favored opponent, stands as one of the most surprising results of the league’s first round.