Racing Club vs Corinthians Predictions

Thursday’s Copa Sudamericana first round, second leg action sees Argentines Racing Club and Brazilians Corinthians doing battle. It’s all still to play for with the scores locked at 1-1 but there’s only one side that’s really focused on the match.

Indeed, in the midst of an intense domestic title chase and having played a crunch derby at the weekend, Racing boss Eduardo Coudet is giving Thursday’s match little importance and will field an almost entirely reserve XI. With the focus fully on becoming kings of Argentina, the Sudamericana is firmly taking a back seat right now.

If Racing were at full strength, you’d fancy them to win the match but they’re not, and that’s likely to have a huge impact. La Academia’s first choice players went 3 points clear at the top of the Argentine Superliga with a 3-1 win away at rivals Independiente at the weekend but with most of those involved set to sit this one out, a run of 5 Copa Sudamericana matches without a win hardly looks like it’s set to come to an end.

Meanwhile, Brazilians Corinthians are finally beginning to find their feet under the return of boss Fabio Carille and will be desperate to take full advantage of the changes Racing are set to make. Carille lead the side to the Serie A title back in 2017 and transformed them into an unstoppable force and will be hoping for more of the same in 2019, after a brief spell in Saudi Arabia last year.

Timao weren’t really impressing in Carille’s early matches in charge this year, nor were they particularly strong in the first leg of this tie. Nonetheless, now with 3 consecutive wins behind them, during which they’ve plunged in an average of 2 goals a game, confidence is now very high in getting the job done in Buenos Aires.

Ultimately, in normal circumstances you’d have Racing down as clear favourites to win this match on home soil but the changes they’re going to make are a huge factor and their second string just isn’t of the same quality as their first.

As such, the hosts being favourites makes very little sense and with Corinthians in excellent form, a bet on them on the Draw No Bet line looks a great way to play. At worst, the Brazilians shouldn’t lose but we see them having a bit too much for an opponent full of players lacking match sharpness and fancy them to run out 1-0 winners.