Racing lose to Botafogo, on brink of Sudamericana exit | OneFootball

On a night marked by defensive lapses and a lack of finishing, Academia fell to Botafogo and dropped to third place in Group E, seriously complicating its chances of qualifying for the round of 16. The match got off to a bad start for the Avellaneda side. In the 18th minute, an unusual own goal by Marco Di Césare gave the home team the lead. Racing responded at the start of the second half and equalized thanks to its star scorer, “Maravilla” Martínez, who connected with a cross from Gabriel Rojas to make it 1-1 three minutes into the second half.

However, just when the match was wide open, the defensive fragility showed up again. In the 29th minute, Danilo took advantage of a very weak response from Facundo Cambeses after a shot and made it 2-1. The ending was a nightmare: the Racing goalkeeper was shown a red card for a foul on Villalba, and Santiago Sosa ended up going in goal in the final minutes.

With this result, Racing remains on 4 points, well behind Botafogo (10) and Caracas (8). To have any chance of finishing second, Academia must win its two remaining matches and hope the Venezuelan side fails to pick up any points against the Brazilian team on the final matchday.

MATCH SUMMARY

Botafogo (2): Neto; Vitinho, Nahuel Ferraresi, Alexander Barboza, Alex Telles (Fernando Marçal); Danilo, Newton, Cristian Medina, Matheus Martins (Edenílson); Kadir Barría (Arthur Cabral) and Júnior Santos (Lucas Villalba). Coach: Franclim Carvalho.

Racing Club (1): Facundo Cambeses; Gastón Martirena, Marco Di Césare, Santiago Sosa, Agustín García Basso (Tomás Pérez), Gabriel Rojas; Adrián Fernández (Matko Miljevic), Alan Forneris (Bruno Zuculini), Baltasar Rodríguez (Matías Zaracho); Santiago Solari (Tomás Conechny) and Adrián Martínez. Coach: Gustavo Costas.

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