Velez He plays with the pressure of those who run him from behind. But the Fortín de Gustavo Quinteros that returned to victory after three dates without adding three and consolidated itself as the only leader of the Professional Soccer League when there are two dates left until the end.
Recently, Vélez has grown a dwarf. The thing is that Huracán and Talleres, who were their escorts in much of the championship, were joined by Gustavo Costas’ Racing, which had five wins in a row and was two points behind, with one game less. That, before Fortín played this Sunday.
With that pressure, the leaders of the Professional League and the brand new finalists of the Argentine Cup took to the field. To make matters worse, they met a Sarmiento who came to Liniers to show off his catenaccio. And so the game went, very close, until a handball from the Chilean Morales caused a penalty that Aquino converted into a goal to reach 48 points and secure the lead in the League.
In any case, the Costas Academy does not give up the fight. “We are not going to leave them stranded,” said Luciano Vietto after the first in his second stage in Racing. Afterwards, Maravilla Martínez secured the victory against Rosario Central de Holan so that those from Avellaneda reach 43 points. Now they are five behind Vélez but on Wednesday they make up the postponed match against Estudiantes which could leave them two units behind Fortín again.
On Monday from 7:45 p.m., the Kempes stadium will be the scene of a true final: Talleres receives Huracán, the other two teams that dream of climbing the table and closing the year shouting “Go ahead, champion.”
The fight for the Copa Libertadores and the annual table
River beat Pincha with a fantastic night from Franco Armani. With this result, the team led by Marcelo Gallardo climbed to second place in the annual table with 66 points, equaling the line of Talleres, which still has to face Huracán, a team that is sixth with 59 points. At the top of the table, already qualified for the 2025 Copa Libertadores, Vélez remains firm with 70 points. For its part, Boca Juniors occupies fifth place with 60 points, followed by Globo, Godoy Cruz (58), Independiente (56) and Unión (56).
In this way, the Millionaire will face a crucial challenge in the final stretch of the tournament. First they will play the pending match on the 24th date against San Lorenzo at the Más Monumental Stadium, scheduled for Wednesday, December 4 at 9 p.m. Then, they will complete their calendar with a home duel against Rosario Central and a visit to Racing in Avellaneda .
At the moment, the Argentine teams qualified for the 2025 Copa Libertadores are Estudiantes de La Plata (champion of the League Cup) and Racing (champion of the Copa Sudamericana). There are still two places reserved for the champions of the Argentine Cup and the Professional League. However, if Vélez manages to win both tournaments, the regulations establish that: “If the champion of the 2024 Argentine Cup occupies any of the places provided for in articles 27.1 (Professional League) and/or 27.2 (League Cup) for The Conmebol Libertadores Cup 2025 will maintain said place and its place in the ARGENTINA 3 position will be occupied by the next best-placed First Division team in the Argentine Cup 2024, and so on, as appropriate.”
Something similar could happen with Racing if it achieves the two-time championship by winning the Sudamericana and the Professional League. In that case, the regulations provide: “If this winning team of the Copa Conmebol Sudamericana 2024 already occupies any of the qualifying positions provided for in articles 27.1, 27.2, 27.4, 27.5 or 27.6, its place will be occupied by the next best placed team. of the General Table of Positions 2024 (article 24), as appropriate, producing the reordering of positions in the places in the Copa Conmebol Libertadores 2025 in accordance with the regulations referred to here, until all of them are covered (including the Copa Conmebol Libertadores 2025 and Sudamericana 2025).”
It should be remembered that the Annual Table will grant three additional tickets to the Libertadores 2025, in addition to distributing six places for the Copa Sudamericana among the best-placed teams after those classified for the highest continental competition.
