Racing (Argentina) vs Atletico Nacional (Colombia)
Racing Club will find it tough to reverse the score on Thursday after their 4-2 away defeat at Atletico Nacional in a thrilling game last week. Now the team need to win by a two-goal margin at least to lead the tie to penalties. In fact, that result also represented their second consecutive defeat in all competitions (as the team continue to wait for the Copa Liga Profesional’s start on August 18). On a positive note, Racing have been unbeaten in their last seven at home, winning four and drawing three in that spell.
Atletico Nacional played one of their best games in the 2023 Copa Libertadores last Thursday, when they secured a valuable 4-2 home success over Racing Club, which means they will advance to the quarter-finals even losing by one goal in Argentina. On Sunday, El Verde de La Montana drew 1-1 away at Deportivo Cali, making it five matches unbeaten in all competitions (three victories and two draws). In fact, they are now on five points in three games in the Colombian Torneo Finalizacion (one in hand). Nacional won one and lost one of their last six away games, along with four stalemates.
Last week’s 4-2 Nacional win was a cumulous of mistakes and I expect something similar here as Racing needs a 2+ goals victory and they will have to take risks.