San Lorenzo vs Arsenal
San Lorenzo faced trouble last season, but a great six-match unbeaten streak of five victories and one draw allowed them to clinch the last Copa Sudamericana ticket. In fact, El Ciclon won their last three home matches without conceding. Cristian Zapata (who joined Atletico Nacional, Colombia) and Juan Ignacio Mendez (Velez Sarsfield) are the most relevant losses in the transfer window while centre back Rafael Perez and Carlos Sanchez arrived from Talleres and Independiente Santa Fe (Colombia) respectively, in a total of four new signings.
Even though Sarandi Arsenal took six points from the last nine, the team ended up in 21st in the aggregate table and now hold the worst point average (excluding the newly-promoted squads). El Viaducto won their last away game to stop a nine-match winless streak of four draws and five losses on the road. Ahead of the upcoming season, the squad was completely renewed: Facundo Kruspzky (sold to UAE’s side Al Wahda), Sebastian Lomonaco (Union La Calera, Chile), Damian Perez (Independiente) and Mauro Pitton (CA Central Cordoba) left the club in a total of 18 departures. Luis Leal (Guabira, Bolivia), Adrian Sporle (Dundee Utd., Scotland) and Facundo Cardozo (Sabail, Azerbaijan) are the most relevant of 16 new faces. In fact, coach Carlos Ruiz will replace Leonardo Madelon in the dugout.
This completely renewed Arsenal with 16 new players and a new coach will definitely need some time to adapt, and San Lorenzo should take advantage of this to start the season where they left last year.