Defensa y Justicia vs Racing
Defensa y Justicia showed slight improvements on their visit to Union Santa Fe last week, but they couldn’t convert any of their goalscoring chances and registered a scoreless away draw. That result means El Halcon claimed a single success in their last five Copa Liga Profesional matches, drawing one and losing three in that spell. Julio Vaccari’s men made it 13 points in group B, which is however still enough to stay into one of the Copa Libertadores’ spots in the aggregate table. At home, Defensa secured eight points from 15 available in this competition after winning two, drawing two and losing one. Agustin Sant’anna and David Barbona overcame their respective injuries and are available for Wednesday.
Racing Club returned to winning ways through a highly celebrated 2-1 home success over Boca Juniors last Tuesday, with Leonardo Sigali netting the winner in the 96h minute. The team put an end to their four-match winless streak of two stalemates and two defeats and made it 16 points in the Copa Liga Profesional. As a result, they climbed into the playoff zone in group B and also approached the Copa Sudamericana spots in the aggregate table (trailing tenth-placed Argentinos Juniors by goal difference). On a positive note, Racing are unbeaten on the road in this competition, having won one and drawn four so far.
Racing still under an interim coach and with a very irregular season, I can’t understand why they would be almost favorites against this solid Defensa y Justicia that will have two importante players back (Sant’anna and Barbona). They are not in their best form but they are desperate for a win that would put them both in the playoffs zone of this tournament, and the Copa Libertadores zone of the aggregate table.