Racingvs.Botafogo

A 3-1 victory over Cruzeiro gave the Argentine side their first Copa Sudamericana crown last year, while Fogo won the Copa Libertadores for the first time, beating Atletico Mineiro by that same score.

Match preview

It took over 30 years, but Racing finally lifted an international trophy in 2024, their first since capturing the Supercopa Libertadores in 1988.

Gustavo Costas led them to the Sudamericana title, thanks in part to an impressive home form, winning all of their matches played at Estadio Presidente Peron in the competition.

That said, El Primer Grande do not enter this encounter in great form, having lost their last two Argentine Primera Division games, while going pointless in three of their previous four league contests.

Last weekend, they lost for the first time at home in the opening phase of the 2025 Primera campaign, suffering a 3-2 defeat versus Argentinos Juniors after winning their first two games in the league this year at El Cilindro by a combined margin of 6-0.

In the Sudamericana last year, they defeated four Brazilian sides en route to lifting the trophy, winning their three matches against those opponents in Argentina by a cumulative score of 9-2.

Thursday will mark their first appearance in this competition since 1989, when they were beaten 1-0 on aggregate by Nacional from Uruguay.

At long last, Botafogo got their hands on the Copa Libertadores trophy last year, claiming the title shortly after being crowned Brasileiro Serie A champions.

The 2024 Libertadores was about resilience for the Brazilian side, who lost their opening two group fixtures of that tournament but suffered just one more defeat the rest of the way.

Claudio Cacapa has some big shoes to fill after last season's manager, Arthur Jorge, left to join Al-Rayyan in Qatar earlier this year.

Cacapa won six consecutive Ligue 1 titles as a player at Lyon but did not have a great spell as manager of Molenbeek, winning just seven of his 29 matches in charge of the Belgian team before departing in February 2024.

Only twice in their cup history have the Rio-based club won a match in Argentina, with the last one being at the 2023 Copa Sudamericana versus Patronato (2-0).

Like Racing, Fogo will be in this competition for the second time, and they, too, fell short in their previous appearance, suffering a 3-1 defeat against Sao Paulo in 1994.

Racing Club form (all competitions):

W

W

L

W

L

L

Botafogo form (all competitions):

D

W

W

W

W

L

Team News

In their defeat to Argentinos Juniors last weekend, Racing Club were without Adrian Martinez, who is still dealing with a muscle injury.

Martinez was the leading goalscorer at the Sudamericana last year with 10 goals, and he, former winger Roger Martinez and Gaston Martirena, found the back of the net in their final victory over Cruzeiro.

On the opposite side, Fogo may be missing Vitinho for this clash as he is suffering from a knee injury, leaving his status up in the air for this opening leg.

Goals from Luiz Henrique, Junior Santos and Alex Telles enabled them to lift the Libertadores crown for the first time last year, though the latter is the only one of those three still on the squad.

Racing Club possible starting lineup:

Arias; Di Cesare, Sosa, Garcia Basso; Martirena, Nardoni, Zuculini, Rojas; Solari, Vietto, Salas

Botafogo possible starting lineup:

John; Ponte, Bastos, Barboza, Telles; Freitas, Allan; Artur, Savarino, Jeffinho; Jesus

We say: Racing Club 1-0 Botafogo

Having already played several meaningful games this season, we expect Racing to settle into this match much quicker and find their form against a Fogo side, that have not faced many strong opponents in recent times.

Written by

Joel Lefevre

Previews by email