Racing and Vélez battle to become the first Copa Libertadores semi-finalist | OneFootball

After winning the first leg away, La Academia hosts El Fortín at the Cilindro and continues to dream of making history in the Libertadores.

Racing and Vélez will play this Tuesday from 19:00 at the Estadio Presidente Perón, which will not have visiting fans, for the Copa Libertadores. La Academia won the first leg in Liniers thanks to a lone goal from Maravilla Martínez, in a match that saw Lisandro Magallán sent off and a goal from Aarón Quirós disallowed. Both teams won their weekend matches and are now fighting for a spot in the semifinals.

How Racing and Vélez arrive at the Copa Libertadores clash

After a turbulent start in the Torneo Clausura, the reigning Copa Sudamericana champions have pulled away from the bottom of Zone A and seem to have found their stride, entering a streak of three consecutive victories in which they overcame San Lorenzo, Vélez themselves, and Huracán in their most recent win—a match in which coach Gustavo Costas took the opportunity to rest his usual starters ahead of the Copa Libertadores quarterfinal clash.

The team managed by Guillermo Barros Schelotto has gone five league matches in a row without a loss and won their weekend fixture against San Martín in San Juan, with goals from Manuel Lanzini and Dilan Godoy. They arrive in the best possible shape to attempt a comeback in Avellaneda, with the good news that one of their stars, Maher Carrizo, will renew his contract until 2027, according to club president Fabián Berlanga. Without Lisandro Magallán, who saw red in the first leg, the Vélez side will go for a historic comeback to keep dreaming of eternal glory.

The probable lineup for Racing vs. Vélez, Copa Libertadores

Facundo Cambeses, Facundo Mura, Franco Pardo, Santiago Sosa, Nazareno Colombo, Gabriel Rojas; Juan Ignacio Nardoni, Agustín Almendra, Bruno Zuculini or Matías Zaracho; Santiago Solari or Duván Vergara, Adrián Martínez. Coach: Gustavo Costas.

The possible starting eleven for Vélez vs. Racing, Copa Libertadores

Tomás Marchiori, Jano Gordon or Agustín Lagos, Emanuel Mammana, Aarón Quirós, Elias Gómez, Rodrigo Aliendro, Agustín Bouzat, Tomás Galván or Manuel Lanzini, Maher Carrizo, Imanol Machuca, and Michael Santos or Braian Romero. Coach: Guillermo Barros Schelotto.

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