Preview: Racing Club vs. Barracas Central - prediction, team news, lineups

The hosts inflicted a third consecutive defeat to Velez Sarsfield last Saturday, while Barracas secured a creditable draw against Rosario Central.

Match preview

A 2-1 victory over Velez Sarsfield last week continued Racing's mini resurgence after a torrid run of results from early April to mid-May.

Gago's men lost six of seven games after a 2-1 triumph against Huracan at the start of April, with only a point against Independiente on April 16 preventing a run of seven straight defeats.

La Academia stopped the bleeding when they played out a 1-1 in their final game of last month, and that outcome was the fillip required by Racing to begin the ongoing streak.

Despite conceding three goals in their four-game unbeaten run, the average has dipped significantly from 2.57 goals against in the seven winless fixtures to 0.75 goals conceded in the last four matches.

With consecutive home wins against Banfield and Velez Sarsfield, Gago's troops can make it three back-to-back victories at El Cilindro de Avellaneda.

They welcome a Barracas side that have lost one game from the last seven rounds, even if wins have been few and far between.

Sergio Rondina's men have secured maximum points twice in seven gameweeks, with stalemates as the most popular result.

Strikingly, Barracas have kept four clean sheets in that run, but further inspection shows three shutouts have come at Estadio Claudio Tapia and not on the road.

Nevertheless, Baraquenos' away form reveals they have played out draws in three of their recent five fixtures outside south-eastern Buenos Aires, keeping two clean sheets in the last four.

The concession of five in Barracas' most recent game on their travels — a 5-2 loss at Estudiantes — was an anomaly due to the team's usual resilience to keep the rearguard guarded.

Racing Club Argentine Primera Division form:

L

L

D

W

D

W

Racing Club form (all competitions):

W

D

W

L

D

W

Barracas Central Argentine Primera Division form:

W

D

D

W

L

D

Team News

Gago's team have been unfortunate with ligament ruptures, with three players — Emiliano Vecchio, Leonel Miranda and Johan Carbonero — all out, although Vecchio and Miranda are closer to returning.

Leonardo Sigali (muscle) and Nicolas Reniero (ankle) are out for Thursday's game, with the former expected to be absent for a month while there is no timescale for Reniero's layoff.

Racing may be tempted to restore Gabriel Arias, Paolo Guerrero and Matias Rojas into the team following their exertions on international duty with Chile, Peru and Paraguay, respectively.

Barracas are without Lucas Lopez, who is nursing a ligament injury, although the wide midfielder was not featuring regularly before getting injured over a month ago.

Bruno Sepulveda and Ivan Tapia have scored a combined nine league goals, and the pair could be key to Barracas stunning Racing on Thursday night.

Racing Club possible starting lineup:

Tagliamonte; Mura, Aviles, Piovi, Rojas; Gomez, Moreno, Oroz; Hauche, Romero, Rodriguez

Barracas Central possible starting lineup:

Desabato; Peinipil, Alvarez, Capraro, Insua; Mater, Arce, Tapia, Calderara; Dominguez, Sepulveda

We say: Racing Club 1-1 Barracas Central

Previews by email