Copa Argentina: Vélez face Gimnasia y Tiro de Salta for a last-16 spot | OneFootball

El Fortín faces the Albo in Caseros in the round of 32 before the close of the Apertura’s regular season.

Vélez and Gimnasia y Tiro (S) will face off this Thursday, starting at 9:15 p.m., at the Estadio Ciudad de Caseros in the round of 32 of the 2026 Copa Argentina. El Fortín is coming off a 2-2 draw with Unión in the league and was unable to secure first place in Zone A, so before going all in against Newell’s, it will look to get past the Albo, whose Primera Nacional campaign has been inconsistent.

How Vélez and Gimnasia y Tiro are coming into the Copa Argentina clash

El Fortín was unable to hold its lead against Unión and ended up drawing 2-2 in Liniers, a result that kept it from moving to the top of Zone A in the Apertura Tournament with one matchday left. In the next round, the last of the regular season, it will host Newell’s while sitting third, behind Estudiantes and Boca, and to secure home-field advantage in every playoff round -except the final, which is played at a neutral venue- it will have to beat La Lepra and hope that neither El Pincha nor El Xeneize does the same.

In the Copa Argentina, Vélez made its debut with a commanding 4-1 win over Deportivo Armenio thanks to goals from Tobías Andrada (x2), Aaron Quirós and Dilan Godoy, thus advancing to the round of 32.

For its part, Gimnasia y Tiro pulled off one of the biggest upsets in the round of 64 by eliminating Gimnasia de Mendoza 4-3 on penalties, after a scoreless draw in the 90 minutes, and now it is aiming for another shock result against one of the best teams in the Liga Profesional.

However, the Albo’s current form is far from ideal, and it has not won since late February. Its last victory was a 2-0 win over Almagro, and since then it has played eight matches, losing four and drawing the other four, including the Copa Argentina qualification against the Mendoza-based Lobo.

The winner of this match will take on the winner of the tie between Boca and Sarmiento, who will play before the World Cup break on a date and at a venue still to be determined.

Vélez’s probable starting XI vs. Gimnasia y Tiro in the Copa Argentina

Tomás Marchiori; Joaquín García, Emanuel Mammana, Aaron Quirós, Elías Gómez; Tobías Andrada, Rodrigo Aliendro or Lucas Robertone; Matías Pellegrini, Dilan Godoy or Diego Valdes, Manuel Lanzini; Florián Monzón. Head coach: Guillermo Barros Schelotto.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.