In the final round of Copa Libertadores group stage fixtures, Group E leaders Racing Club welcome basement side Rentistas to Argentina.
The hosts all but confirmed their first-placed finish with a 1-0 win over second-placed Sao Paulo last time out, moving them three points clear of the Brazilian side, while their visitors stand an outside chance of finishing in third place if they can secure a victory and Sporting Cristal fail to win their final game.
Match preview
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Racing Club picked up another important victory in the group stage last Wednesday, as they defeated Sao Paulo 1-0, thanks to a Joaquin Novillo goal, to go three points clear at the top of Group E going into the final round of games.
That followed another important win, as the Argentinian outfit defeated Sporting Cristal 2-0 away from home, with Tomas Chancalay and Ignacio Piatti scoring the goals in the final 15 minutes.
Juan Antonio Pizzi's side now boast an impressive tally of 11 points from five matches in the group stage, having won three of those games and drawn the other two.
As a result, La Academia have already confirmed their advancement to the round of 16, and they will look to complete the job by topping the group with another victory on Wednesday.
They take on a Rentistas side who will aim to record their first win of the tournament to stand a chance of finishing in third place.
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The visitors fell to their second defeat of the tournament last time out, as they were beaten 2-0 away against Sporting Cristal.
Alejandro Hohberg opened the scoring for the hosts on the stroke of half time and a Gerald Tavara goal in the second half put the game out of sight.
That sent the Uruguayan outfit to the bottom of group E, having picked up just three points from their five matches, while they have failed to win any of those games.
As a result, Martin Varini's side look set to crash out, unless they can pick up a surprise victory on Wednesday and Cristal fail to win their match.
In that case, El Renta would finish in third spot, which guarantees entry to the Copa Sudamericana, providing some continental football for Varini's men.
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Team News
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Racing Club's attack this season has largely been built around Tomas Chancalay, who has netted an impressive tally of seven goals in 16 appearances in all competitions, including two goals in the Copa Libertadores.
A lot of their season has been built on a solid defence, but Joaquin Novillo has been the only ever-present in the back five in the last three Copa Libertadores matches, in which Racing Club kept clean sheets in all three.
Goalkeeper Gabriel Arias has also played a key role in their solid back line, and the experienced Chilean will start again on Wednesday.
A lot of the attacking responsibility in the Rentistas side has fallen on 21-year-old Salomon Rodriguez, and he has netted one of their two goals in five games in the group stage.
As well as a lack of attacking options, that is partly down to Varini's priority on a defensive structure, with Guillermo Fratta, Martin Gonzalez and Joaquin Sosa expected to line up in a back five alongside full-backs Andres Rodales and Lucas Morales.
Racing Club possible starting lineup:
Arias; Dominguez, Novillo, Orban, Segovia, Galvan; Moreno, Martinez, Rojas; Chancalay, Godoy
Rentistas possible starting lineup:
Rossi; Rodales, Sosa, Gonzalez, Fratta, Morales; Urretaviscaya, Paiva, Cristobal, Perez; Rodriguez
We say: Racing Club 2-0 Rentistas
With the contrasting form of the two sides coming into Wednesday's game, we expect the group leaders to come out with another comfortable victory.
Racing Club have looked formidable throughout the group stage, and they should see out another win and a clean sheet against a side who have struggled to find the net.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Racing Club win with a probability of 56.83%. A draw had a probability of 25% and a win for Rentistas had a probability of 18.21%.
The most likely scoreline for a Racing Club win was 1-0 with a probability of 14.79%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (11.82%) and 2-1 (9.24%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (11.56%), while for a Rentistas win it was 0-1 (7.23%). The actual scoreline of 3-0 was predicted with a 6.3% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Racing Club would win this match.
