Preview: Racing Club vs. Boca Juniors - prediction, team news, lineups

After a closely contested match last week, Racing Club and Boca Juniors will meet for the all-important second leg of the Copa Libertadores quarter-finals at Estadio Presidente Juan Domingo Peron on Thursday.

It is all still to play for in the match as neither side were able to find a breakthrough in the first leg, and the winners of this tie will go on to face either Palmeiras or Deportivo Pereira in the semi-final, although the Brazilians do have a commanding lead in that fixture.

Match preview

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Having maintained a clean sheet last week, Racing Club have put themselves in a good position and will relish the opportunity of knocking their local rivals out of the competition after Boca edged them to the title last season.

However, that will not be an easy feat, especially considering the form they showed in the first phase of the season when they finished in 12th place with just 40 points in their 27 league matches and four places behind this opponent.

The hosts were far from convincing in the last round, where they lost the first leg against Atletico Nacional 4-2 but managed a 3-0 win in their home leg, although the winning goal was an own goal by Juan Aguirre.

Since then, though, Fernando Gago's men have recorded two draws and a 2-1 win against Tigre over the weekend, while they are also unbeaten in their last nine matches at home in all competitions.

Racing have avoided defeat in each of their last four matches against this opponent at this venue (W2 D2 L0) and will fancy their chances here in front of their home fans.

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After winning the second phase of the Argentine Primera Division last season, Boca Juniors were unable to follow up in the first phase this year and ended in seventh place, 17 points behind River Plate at the top of the standings.

Like their opponents, Xeneize's qualification to this stage of the competition was far from straightforward, as they required penalties to get by Nacional in the previous round after the tie ended 2-2.

Following last week's encounter against this opponent, Jorge Almiron's side were beaten 1-0 by Sarmiento, who finished the first phase in 19th place, meaning they have gone over 180 minutes without finding the net.

Boca Juniors did create the better chances last week and looked more likely to break the deadlock, but they will be the happier of these sides the longer this match remains level and will probably look to nick a late winner if they can.

Team News

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Gago has several absentees to contend with at the moment with Roger Martinez, Juan Ignacio Nardoni, Nicolas Reniero and Emiliano Vecchio all likely to miss this match through injury.

Johan Carbonero has not featured at all for Racing Club this season and is expected to remain sidelined for at least another month with a ruptured cruciate ligament.

Almiron is expected to be without only two of his players for this match, with Luca Langoni and Valentin Barco both suffering from muscle injuries.

After coming off the bench last week, Miguel Merentiel will be hoping to be recalled to the starting 11 to partner former Manchester United and PSG forward Edinson Cavani in attack.

Racing Club possible starting lineup:

Arias; Pillud, Sigali, Piovi, Rojas; Gomez, Moreno, Oroz; Ojeda, Romero, Hauche

Boca Juniors possible starting lineup:

Romero; Figal, Rojo, Valentini; Advincula, Fernandez, Zeballos, Medina, Fabra; Merentiel, Cavani

We say: Racing Club 1-1 Boca Juniors

While the first leg did not deliver any goals, this match should become more open the longer it remains level, and we expect both sides to find the net as a result. However, while we expect both to get on the scoresheet, we feel they may still be level at the full-time whistle.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.