Costas aims to lift Racing’s international curse | OneFootball

The Academy ended a 36-year drought without international titles in the Copa Sudamericana, and against Vélez, they will attempt to return to a Copa Libertadores semifinal after 28 years.

In the conference where he was officially announced as Racing's coach, Gustavo Costas made it clear that what the Avellaneda institution needed was to conquer another title on the international stage.

The Supercopa won in 1988 had been Racing's last international conquest and Costas' wish came true last year by winning the Copa Sudamericana by defeating Cruzeiro in the final in Paraguay. Coincidentally, they had also faced the Belo Horizonte team in that last title.

The Academy has had an irregular run during 2025, although on the international stage, they reached their highest point by winning the Recopa Sudamericana by clearly defeating Botagofo, the 2024 Copa Libertadores champion, both in the first and second legs.

Additionally, Racing secured the top spot in the group stage of this 2025 Libertadores; they were the best of the Argentine teams that advanced to the round of 16 and third overall, only behind Palmeiras and São Paulo. Because of this, and the draw, they will play a potential semifinal at the Cilindro against Estudiantes or Flamengo.

Costas' Racing will seek this Tuesday to overcome another international hurdle: they have not advanced to the Copa Libertadores semifinals for 28 years.

The last time they reached the top four of the continent's most important club tournament was in 1997, the year in which they lost the series in pursuit of the final against Sporting Cristal of Peru, who would later lose the final to Cruzeiro.

Curiously, in that Copa Libertadores, Racing and Vélez shared a group (Vélez won both matches in the zone), and the Fortín fell in the round of 16 precisely to the team that would be Racing's nemesis in the semifinals.

Racing, champion of the Copa Libertadores in 1967, has only reached the quarterfinals four times; only once did they advance, and those who believe in coincidences have something to hold onto.

In the path to that elimination against Sporting Cristal, Racing knocked out an Argentine team (River in the round of 16) and Peñarol (in the quarterfinals), both through penalty shootouts.

However, considering coincidences, there are also bad ones: the last two times the Academy reached the quarterfinals, they were eliminated by an Argentine team: Boca in 2022 (2-1 aggregate) and 2023 (by penalties).

Meanwhile, the fourth time Racing reached the quarterfinals was in 2015, and they were eliminated by Guaraní. In all instances, the Avellaneda team started the series away (until this year, they had never won) and decided at the Cilindro, as will happen now with Vélez.

Racing won the first leg against Vélez with a goal by Maravilla Martínez

Last year, Racing managed to turn the series around against Paranaense by thrashing them in Avellaneda, thus ending a first streak of not advancing to the semifinals of an international tournament since that match against Sporting Cristal. Then, they would become champions.

Now, Costas' team will try to end the drought in the Copa Libertadores and, if successful, be just three matches away from the dream of winning the continent's most important tournament again.

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