Argentine Racing beat Ecuadorian Aucas 3-2, in an entertaining match for the second date of Group A of the Copa Libertadores 2023 played this Thursday at the Presidente Perón stadium in Buenos Aires.
Maximiliano Romero (12), Juan Nardoni (16) and Wilker Ángel (86, against) scored the goals for the Academia Albiceleste, while Erick Castillo (48) and Luis Cangá (56) they reduced distances for the Ecuadorian formation.
The two finished the match with ten players, since Maxi Moralez (78) and Aubrey David (90+4) saw the red card in each team.
Racing went over Aucas like a whirlwind as soon as the match began, There was nothing to score before the minute, with a soft shot from Maxi Romero that hit the crossbar and stung from the outside.
With a lot of dynamics in his movements, the Academy moved the ball and paced the game at will, and he began to frequently visit the area of Hernán Galíndez, since Aucas could not have the ball and only tried to resist.
That is why it was not surprising that the opening arrived, in a good clearance by Piovi over the midfield, the winger opened to the left for Gabriel Rojas, and he sent a cross into the middle of the small area, where he entered Maxi Romero at full power to open the scoring.
The Ecuadorian team did not react and immediately the second fell, in a good pass from Guerrero for the arrival of Romero, who he eluded Galíndez and assisted Nardoni, who touched towards the empty goal.
Everything was from Racing, who could have scored the third goal in a penalty by the hand of Cangá that the Uruguayan Christian Ferreyra sanctioned, but the referee annulled that sanction at the request of the VAR, and curiously, from that moment Aucas began to come out of the siege and improved noticeably.
– Brave reaction –
DT Farías moved the bench with two changes at halftime and those variants proved him right, because Aubrey David from Trinidad showed speed and ease to open the game on the left side.
For that sector came the discount, in a good play by Castillo, who made his way between three defenders at full power, and defined with a left-footed cross shot, and that discount left Racing cold, who did not expect that lunge.
Aucas took advantage and achieved equality shortly after, from a long free kick from the left, when Aubrey David entered from behind everyone to the left and sent the cross that Luis Cangá sent into the net entering the near post, to the desperation of a bewildered Racing.
Without the lucidity that he had in the first part, Racing returned to recover the leading role, but the game got dirty, with many fouls that interrupted development, the game became lackluster, and even the coaches Farías and Fernando Gago got into an unusually angry discussion between them.
Even with ten for the departure of Moralez, expelled at the request of the VAR for a stomp on Cangá, Racing was looking for victory, and ended up finding it with a wink of fortune, which was bad luck for Aucas at the same time.
With four minutes to go, Mura sent another cross at the height of the penalty mark, Wilker Ángel, in an attempt to clear, headed back and he did not see Galíndez, who had come out to clear and was halfway, so the ball entered the visitor’s fence meekly.
In a duel that was much more complicated than expected after 30 minutes in which they had done everything to score goals, Racing added three points that confirmed it at the top of the group, and Aucas, who had just surprised Flamengo, left an interesting image, beyond the fact that he had to leave Avellaneda empty-handed.
