Rafaela clásico this afternoon: Atlético Rafaela v 9 de Julio | OneFootball

Last February, all eyes were on the draw for the 2025 season of the Federal A tournament, a competition that, for the first time in its history, featured the three most important clubs from our city: Atlético de Rafaela, 9 de Julio, and Ben Hur. The group formation placed La Crema on one side, and El León and El Lobo together on the other. The classic between BH and 9 became a reality once again. The oldest rivalry in Rafaela, between the Albicelestes and the Julienses, would have to wait a bit longer. Everything depended on their sporting performance in the tournament’s first phase.

Both teams managed to qualify for the Championship Zone, and the long-awaited moment finally arrived. The Rafaela superclásico will be played again after 33 years.

The football atmosphere in Rafaela experienced a special week, and the classic between Atlético and 9 de Julio is everything. After 12,142 days, they face each other once more to play the most important match of all, for their fans.

At the Monumental in the Alberdi neighborhood, where La Crema remains unbeaten this year, they will face off this Sunday, September 7th, at 5:05 p.m.

The classic doesn’t award cups or stars, but for the fans, it’s worth as much as a separate championship. It will be a ‘reunion’ after that famous Reválida played on June 8, 1922, which Atlético de Rafaela won 1–0.

For the 8th and penultimate round of the second phase of Federal A 2025, Cremos and Julienses will face off this Sunday afternoon at the Monumental in the Alberdi neighborhood, which will have a great crowd in attendance.

The main referee for the match, which only Atlético fans will be able to attend, will be José Manuel Díaz from Villa Mercedes. The native of San Luis will be accompanied by Juan Ignacio Flores Roing and Federico Ojeda. The fourth official will be Leandro Hardfield.

Atlético de Rafaela comes into the match after losing 2–0 away to Juventud Antoniana de Salta, where they lost their unbeaten record in the Championship Zone. Even so, the team technically led by Iván Juárez remains the group leader with 13 points.

9 de Julio comes from a 0–0 draw with Sportivo Belgrano de San Francisco, the other leader of the group, and thus (with 7 points), although somewhat behind in the race to qualify, they still have hopes of making it into the group’s top four.

Both teams will put forth their best available players to try to claim the Rafaela classic.

La Crema could secure their qualification to the playoff zone for direct promotion to Primera Nacional.

WITH ACUÑA’S RETURN

After serving his suspension, left back Sebastián Acuña will return to the starting lineup in place of Nahuel Bravo, which would be the only change made by Juliense coach Marcelo Varela.

Even so, as often happens in the lead-up to matches with so much at stake, there’s always room for a surprise change. If so, don’t rule out forward Lautaro Ocampo, who played 20 minutes against Sportivo Belgrano after returning from injury and, although he didn’t show the full match fitness desired, could be a card the coach plays. If he comes in, he would likely replace Tomás Bonilla, while another possible substitute is Maximiliano Ibáñez, who, although not performing at the expected level this season, has the bonus of having scored that goal in the Copa Santa Fe at León’s stadium two years ago.

POSSIBLE LINEUPS AND MATCH DETAILS

ATLÉTICO DE RAFAELA: Emanuel Bilbao; Julián Fuyana, Gabriel Fernández, Fernando Ponce, and Nicolás Utrera; Facundo Affranchino, Facundo Soloa, Damiano Jaime, and Agustín Pastorelli or Tadeo Marchiori; Ciro Leineker and Lucas Albertengo. Coach: Iván Juárez.

9 DE JULIO: Franco Fragueda; Maximiliano Martínez, Facundo Centurión, Tomás Androetto, and Sebastián Acuña; Nicolás Delsole, Facundo Maldonado, Jeremías Bustos, and Tobías Macies; Tomás Bonilla or Lautaro Ocampo, and Enzo or Maximiliano Ibáñez. Coach: Marcelo Varela.

Stadium: Monumental.

Referee: José Manuel Díaz.

Fourth official: Leandro Federico Hartfield.

Time: 17:05

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