Racing Club produced an excellent group stage but had to settle for the second place in Group F in spite of having clinched 15 points after their 2-1 home victory over Estudiantes Merida. However, things only got worse for them since that game. La Academia is already out of chances to advance to the winners round in the league after losing all four games so far (2-0 at Atletico Tucuman last Thursday with a completely alternative XI). At home, they are on two consecutive defeats.
Defending champions Flamengo haven’t found any difficulties to go through the group phase, having won group A with 15 points following their 3-1 home success over Junior from Colombia. Last Saturday, recently-appointed boss Rogerio Ceni celebrated his first victory at the club (3-1 against Coritiba at home with the usual starters in the line-up). That result stopped the team’s four-game winless run of one draw and three defeats and allowed them to reach the top of the league table on 39 points (alongside Atletico Mineiro). On a sorry note, Flamengo lost their last two away games.
Racing Club coach Sebastian Beccacece is still missing Marcelo Diaz, Augusto Solari and Lorenzo Melgarejo, still recovering from injuries. Nery Dominguez, Alexis Soto and Nicolas Reniero are fit to return.
At Flamengo, striker Gabriel Barbosa and left-back Filipe Luis have recovered from their respective injuries and are available.
Flamengo seems to have enough potential to take advantage of Racing Club’s crisis.