Argentine Cup: El Pirata was more convincing and won 2-0 at the Gigante de Arroyito.

Belgrano decisively defeated Independiente and advanced to the quarterfinals of the Copa Argentina . With goals from Jara and Zelarayán, the Cordoba team showed solidity and exposed the shortcomings of the Rojo , who are deepening their slump.

Now, they await the winner of the match between Atlético Tucumán and Newell's in the quarterfinals. For their part, El Rojo once again put in a lackluster performance and remain capable of winning since the start of the second half of Argentine soccer.

El Pirata started the match with a more decisive attack, entering the Rojos' box from two free kicks in the opponent's half. There, Lisandro López's powerful header flew past Rodrigo Rey's goal.

After a few more attempts , Independiente settled into the game and balanced the match with duels in the midfield. Against this backdrop, Santiago Montiel stood out with his dribbling and managed to unbalance Belgrano's defense on several occasions. Ricardo Zielinski 's team reacted and had Lucas Zelarayán open the scoring, but his shot from inside the box bounced off teammate Franco Jara.

From then on, both teams had brief periods in which they took control of the match, but were unable to replicate their chances in dangerous scoring situations. Jara and Zelarayán constantly troubled Independiente's defense, while Montiel did the same whenever he could intervene in Independiente's offense.

As the clock ticked down to 46 minutes in the first half, and things looked set to go into the halftime break without any excitement, Franco Jara's header appeared to break the deadlock. After a superb cross from Gabriel Compagnucci , the experienced 37-year-old striker beat Kevin Lomónaco in the air to seal the 1-0 lead for Pirata.

The second half began with Independiente taking a more dominant stance. They controlled possession and quickly won possession in midfield. However, they struggled to penetrate Belgrano's defensive block, which was set up by Ruso Zielinski, who looked to strike on the counterattack.

In fact, Julio Vaccari made his dissatisfaction with his players' performance clear when he made a quadruple substitution after 60 minutes of the match in an attempt to reverse a game that was playing the way Pirata wanted.

However, minutes later, Belgrano extended their lead with a stunning goal from Chino Zelarayán. After a fine play between Compagnucci and Santiago Longo, the latter passed the ball to the number 10 in the opponent's three-quarters of the field. The Armenian national team player received the ball alone and, faced with the passive defense of the Avellaneda team, unleashed a powerful low shot that went in just above the base of Rey's right post.

Since then, Belgrano played with the desperation of an Independiente that could never find answers and only worried goalkeeper Thiago Cardozo with crosses from the sides.

Now , Belgrano will face the winner of the match between Atlético Tucumán and Newell's Rosario in the quarterfinals , a matchup that has yet to be confirmed. Meanwhile, Independiente's crisis is deepening: it has yet to win in the second half and has once again delivered a poor performance.