Today’s match between Argentina’s Estudiantes and Ecuador’s Barcelona will have several attractive ingredients for this second match of the Copa Sudamericana playoffs.

In the first place, the need to return for the players of Eduardo Domínguez, who in the first game, played in Guayaquil, fell 2-1 with goals from Fidel Martínez and Janner Coroz for the home team and Leonardo Godoy for Pincha.

The Rojiblancos, one of the animators of the current Argentine league, but whose last victory dates back to June 2, come into this match after collecting four draws and two defeats in the tournament there – the last, last Saturday against River Plate, which allowed the “millionaires” to sing alirón.

With 39 points, it occupies the seventh position and is still in the qualification places for international tournaments, but it is threatened by very close teams, such as Boca Juniors and Godoy Cruz, only one away, and Argentinos Juniors, two away.

In contrast, Barcelona, ​​​​whose best performance in the eight previous participations in the Copa Sudamericana was precisely the placement in the eighth finals, which they are now aiming for, arrives in Argentina with a new coach.

Uruguayan Diego López, former coach of the Italian Cagliari, Brescia and Bologna, the University of Chile and Peñarola in his country, with whom he won the Uruguayan championship in 2018, made his debut on the Barcelona bench for this crucial match against the four-time Copa Libertadores champion and runner-up (2008) of the South American Cup.

After the departure of Fabián Bustos at the beginning of last June and the temporary administration of Segunda Castillo, Memo took over the team last Friday, so his first game as coach will be today against Estudiantes.

The match will be played at the UNO Jorge Luis Hirschi stadium in La Plata (Buenos Aires province), with a capacity of 32,500 spectators.

The appointment of Brazilian referee Wilton Sampaio to officiate the match is not without controversy, as the winner of this series will face Goiás, the team from the referee’s country of birth, in the Round of 16. (D)