Racing de Montevideo and Huachipato return to action in the Copa Sudamericana when they square in the second leg of their playoff-round clash at the Centenario Stadium on Tuesday.
Having suffered a narrow defeat in Chile, Los Acereros will head into the game looking to overturn their first-leg deficit and snap their run of four consecutive games without a win across all competitions.
Match preview
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A 3-0 defeat against Corinthians in their final Group F game saw Racing de Montevideo miss out on automatic qualification to the Copa Sudamericana knockout stages as they finished second in the table, two points off the Brazilian outfit.
However, La Escuelita turned in a resilient team display in the first leg of their playoff clash with Huachipato as they picked up a 3-2 victory at the Estadio Municipal de Concepcion last Tuesday.
After falling behind to Cris Martinez's fourth-minute opener, a brace from Guillermo Cotugno and Dylan Nandin's 38th-minute strike helped the visitors turn the game on its head before Martinez grabbed his second of the game in the 63rd minute to half the deficit for Huachipato.
While Eduardo Espinel's men have enjoyed a solid Sudamericana campaign, they have struggled for results in the Uruguayan Primera Division, where they fell to a somewhat disappointing 1-0 loss against Montevideo Wanderers on Saturday.
With the defeat against Montevideo, Racing have now gone five consecutive league games without a win, picking up just two points from a possible 15 since scraping a 2-1 victory over Fenix in the season curtain-raiser on June 8.
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Huachipato, on the other hand, failed to bounce back from their midweek defeat as they could only salvage a 1-1 draw with Cobreloa at the Estadio Huachipato-CAP Acero in the Chilean Primera Division on Saturday morning.
Martinez continued his fine form in front of goal as he netted on the stroke of half time to cancel out Javier Parraguez's 39th-minute opener before Cristian Insaurralde, Nicolas Palma and Nicolas Avellaneda received their marching orders in a late flurry of red cards.
Francisco Troncoso's men have now failed to win six of their last seven Primera Division games — losing four and claiming two draws — a run which has seen them drop to 11th place in the standings.
Having clinched their third top-flight title in 2023, when they finished one point above second-placed Cobresal, Huachipato made their return to the Copa Libertadores for the first time since 2013 this season.
However, a run of two wins from their six matches in Group C saw Los Acereros finish third in the standings with eight points from a possible 18 and drop down to South America's second-tier competition.
While Huachipato will be looking to turn things around in the Sudamericana on Tuesday, they have struggled to get going on the road, where they have lost four of their last five matches across all competition, with a 4-3 victory at Estudiantes on May 29 being the exception.
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Team News
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Hugo Magallanes picked up a late red card in the league defeat against Montevideo at the weekend but the 26-year-old is eligible for Tuesday's tie and could start at the heart of the defence.
He should form the Racing back three with Agustin Pereira and Gaston Bueno, while we expect Agustin Alaniz, Santiago Mederos, Rodrigo Teliz and Thiago Espinosa to team up in midfield once again.
Tomas Veron Lupi, who has four goals in seven Copa Sudamericana games, should lead La Escuelita's attack once again, alongside Hugo Silveira and 22-year-old Nandin.
With his strike against Cobreloa, Martinez now has three goals and one assist in his last five games and we expect the Paraguayan striker to lead the Huachipato attack once again.
He should be joined in the final third by Brayan Palmezano and 24-year-old striker Maximiliano Rodriguez, while we expect an unchanged back four of Felipe Loyola, Benjamin Gazzolo, Renzo Malanca and Antonio Castillo once again.
Racing de Montevideo possible starting lineup:
Bacchia; Pereira, Magallanes Bueno; Alaniz, Mederos, Teliz, Espinosa; Lupi, Silveira, Nandin
Huachipato possible starting lineup:
Cerda; Loyola, Gazzolo,Malanca, Castillo; Montes, Villanueva, Silva; Palmezano, Rodriguez, Martinez
We say: Racing de Montevideo 2-1 Huachipato
Having secured a vital victory in the first leg, Racing will head into Tuesday's game with confidence as they look to reach the knockout stages. Huachipato have struggled for results on their travels and we predict that Espinel's men will come away with another narrow victory.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Joshua Ojele
