Gabriel Arias makes a bold move amid criticism over poor form | OneFootball

In the seven years he has been at the club, Gabriel Arias has become an icon of Racing's recent history. He lifted six trophies with the institution, was instrumental in many matches and, since the departure of Leonardo Sigali, became the club's captain. However, his performance in recent matches was not the best, a reason that sparked criticism from several fans of the Academy. Due to the insults he and his family received on social media, he decided to close his Instagram account.

The last matches of Arias defending Racing's goal were bad, in terms of numbers and his individual performance. He conceded 11 goals in five matches and was responsible in several of them. In the first leg against Peñarol in the round of 16 of the Copa Libertadores, he reacted late and failed to block David Terans, who scored the only goal of the match with a header.

In the first goal of Argentinos Juniors, a ball that seemed easy slipped away from him after a slight contact with Santiago Sosa and, when he tried to grab it, he left it served to Alan Lescano. Against Unión, he failed to cut off a corner and the ball fell to Marcelo Estigarribia to score the temporary equalizer. In the second half, he unsuccessfully left his area to cut off an attack by Agustín Colazo on the right flank and Augusto Solari scored the third goal for Tatengue with the goal at his mercy.

To make matters worse, in recent days a supposed fight with Gustavo Costas was rumored to have started when the coach decided to replace him before a hypothetical penalty shootout against Peñarol, which in the end did not happen due to the last-minute goal by Franco Pardo. That night, the Neuquén native left with visible signs of annoyance as he had been the star of the team and was confident for the shootout even though the numbers did not back him up.

Through a post on its social networks, Racing took charge of denying this dispute and with their statements both made it clear that everything was fine. “Fighting with Gustavo would be fighting with Racing. And I would never do that in my life," explained the goalkeeper after the defeat against Unión.

The coach, in a recent interview with TyC Sports, dismissed any suspicion of a fight. "With Gabi I have a relationship that goes beyond coach and player". And he asserted, regarding what happened against Carbonero: "I wouldn't make that change but I asked the goalkeeper coaches how I would take him out to put another one and they all told me not to tell him because he would have that in his head. I apologized and explained. He's the one who won the most, he's an example. I have a great relationship with him".

Still, Costas is aware that Arias is not at his best and when asked about who would be the starting goalkeeper in next Friday's classic against San Lorenzo, he left the door open with a "we'll see".

With just over 24 hours to go before the match to be held at the Cilindro de Avellaneda from 7pm, Facundo Cambeses would be winning the duel against his colleague. It should be noted that the former Banfield goalkeeper played some matches in the Clausura Tournament and the Copa Argentina due to the tear that Arias had suffered and he did it well. If he performs well against Ciclón, he could keep the goal for the Copa Libertadores series against Vélez, which begins next Tuesday from 7pm at the José Amalfitani.

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