nublense debuts this Wednesday at 8:00 p.m. (00:00 GMT) on the Copa Libertadores against a classic of the competition like Racing de Avellanedaon a historic day for the institution in which he will try to resume the path of victory after an irregular start to the season.
The “red devils” are ninth in the National Championship, with only three wins, two draws and four losses, 10 goals for and 11 against, Statistics that point to a combination without forcefulness in the areas.
Two of the victories were in the first two days, in mid-January, in the debut against Unión Española (0-1) and against the recently promoted Magallanes (3-2), results that pointed to a certain continuity of last season, in which Jaime García’s team became a revelation team.
However, then they ran into problems, chained four defeats and two draws until last Sunday, in which victory smiled again at the chillanejos against O’Higgins 2-1 thanks to goals from Alex Valdes and Patricio and Rubio.
The Chilean sub 20 Valdés, who arrived this season from Santiago Morning, has become one of the offensive bulwarks of the red squad with three goals in the local tournament, thanks to his incisive game and his effective left foot.
One more leads his compatriot and offensive partner in the National Championship “Pato” Rubio, a striker with great experience, with a long history in Chilean soccer, but also in Mexico and Peru, which has created an excellent partnership with the newcomer until they signed 75 percent of the team’s goals between them.
The two of them will almost certainly lead the attack against the “Academy” in the city of Concepción, to which the local cast had to move for not complying with their stadium, the “Nelson Oyarzún”, with the minimum requirements demanded by Conmebol, which together with the price of the tickets has unleashed the discomfort of the fans from Ñublens.
Garcia’s lineup for this duel will be: Nicola Perez; Bernardo Cerezo, Rafael Caroca, Nicolás Salazar; Raimundo Rebolledo, Lorenzo Reyes, Manuel Rivera, Jovany Campusano; Juan Leiva; Patricio Rubio and Bayron Oyarzo.
RACING, TO CONFIRM THE GOOD START
Racing travels to the Chilean coastal city with the intention of maintaining the good feelings in the tournament, where it is third, just four points behind River Plate and with the same team as San Lorenzo de Almagro, after beating Huracán (2-1) on the last day in a tight match with goals from Gabriel Hauche and Matías Rojas.
Along with them, the Chileans will most likely jump onto the grass of “Ester Roa” Gabriel Arias and Oscar Opazo, who has received applause after his performances in “El primer grande”.
On the bench will be another Chilean, the young Tomás Avilés, whom Fernando Gago is gradually introducing into the team.
In this context, everything indicates that -if there are no last-minute casualties and the hits are recovered- the Argentine coach will repeat eleven to try to add the first three points and tie up the advantage in the tough Group A, in which Flamengo also compete. and Aucas from Ecuador.
With this panorama, the eleventh will be composed of: Arias; Facundo Mura, Leonardo Sigali, Emiliano Insua, Opazo; John Ignatius Nardoni, Hannibal Brown, Jonathan Gomez; Matthias Rojas, Gabriel Hauche and Maximilian Rosemary.
This commitment can be followed in detail by the Virtual scoreboard of AlAireLibre.cl and the radio transmission of Al Aire Libre en Cooperativa.