Racing – Unión, for the Professional League: the unexpected hero that the Academy paid almost US$ 4 million appeared when least expected

The Professional Football League has less than a month left. On Sunday, October 23, the champion will be announced. Six final dates in which five or six teams arrive with the illusion of taking the title. Racing showed that it has desire and arguments to sneak into that fight: with push, turned the match around 2-1 against Union and scored the third consecutive win.

It was a victory that was celebrated as a final in Avellaneda. With scenes of tension typical of the decisive stretch of a championship. Two final scenes graph it: Fernando Gago asking for the time glued to the line, already without the bag; and the entire squad embraced in the round once Patricio Loustau whistled the final whistle, as if reaffirming the oath of the beginning of the semester, to seek the championship.

The victory was built with little football but with a lot of determination. The loss of Eugenio Mena -expelled against Platense and affected the Chilean team- forced Gago to put his hand in the team. He did not touch the scheme but the structure did suffer. With Gonzalo Piovi still injured, the coach opted to include Ivan Pillud and change band to Facundo Mura. Mura’s inverted profile, added to the fact that with the double 9 Copetti and Romero there are no forwards to occupy that area of ​​the field, Racing was left with almost no left wing to attack. If one of the recurring scenes of this Gago team is the triangulation on the right wing that Leonel Miranda, Gabriel Hauche and the winger on duty against Unión usually put together, that trait was accentuated.

From the outset, the Academy also again showed the lack of conviction for the goal. The clearest sample occurred at 15 minutes, with that run of Maximilian Romero, which started only from midfield. The former Vélez never defined and missed the chance. She wasn’t the only one.

The second half was a roller coaster. The first emotion came after 4 minutes, when the Paraguayan Junior Marabel changed the map of the game with a header for the 1-0 visitor. Already at the beginning of the second half Union had given warnings that it could hurt. Marabel confirmed it with that definition that included a deviation in Emiliano Insúa. “Move, Racing, move”, was the response of the fans. The team felt the nerves. Like other times with Gabriel Arias, now he needed his replacement Matías Tagliamonte to stay in the game.

The three modifications together proposed by Gago -Carbonero, Jonathan Gómez, Alcaraz- they gave the team more options. But only the answers came with the entry of Matias Rojas. The Paraguayan entered decisively, just as Gómez set the ball up to execute a corner kick. He took charge of that action, with a wink of fate: after the rejection in the area, the ball fell back to his left foot, from where sHe combined a perfect airlift at the head of Enzo Copetti. 1 to 1. At that point the Cylinder was boiling. More was missing.

Rojas, with prominence, continued to push. But La noche en Avellaneda had an unexpected hero: Johan Carbonero. The Colombian was able to leave his trademark when the team needed him most. He faced from the left with an advantage and at pure speed he aimed towards the goal of Santiago Mele.

Carbonero was wrong, for whom the club paid almost four million dollars. Now he contributed a very valuable goal. The definition at the near post unleashed a battery of celebrations. In Carbonero, who pointed to himself and took off his shirt, but also in each of the Racing players who were on the field. As if this were a triumph that they owed, a demonstration that they are up to the task.

In a flurry, when it seemed that the possibility was getting out of hand, the Academy turned the result against Union. And the sensations: from disappointment to euphoria. In the absence of six dates, Racing wants to fight.

Classification to the Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana 2023

Argentina has six places for the Copa Libertadores 2023. Boca has already obtained the first ticket for having won the Professional League Cup. The champion of the 2022 Tournament will qualify directly. The same will be achieved by the team that wins the Argentine Cup. The remaining places will be obtained by the first three teams in the annual general table, which includes the points obtained in the group stage of the LPF Cup (13 games) and the 2021 tournament (total: 40 games). In this case, the third team will access the Repechage of the Cup.

Meanwhile, another six teams will go to the South American 2023, which will come out of that same general table and will be the six located after those classified for the Copa Libertadores. If a team already classified by another instance is repeated, the place will go to the next set of this same table.