goal in the tie that closed the preseason in Paraguay

Racing He decided to ‘isolate’ himself from Argentina and do the preseason returning to the place where – recently – he was happiest. This Sunday, the preparation in Asunción, Paraguay concluded with a friendly against 2 de Mayowhich did not go unnoticed because the coach Gustavo Costasseems to have decided who will fill the void he left in the starting team the departure of Juan Fernando Quintero. It is about Luciano Viettowho after having been a supporting actor in the first months of his return to the club, was part of the first starting eleven of 2025 and scored the goal of the 1-1 draw in the main match.

Of course, the date of the ‘Academy’ debut in the Apertura 2025 against Barracas Central is approaching, so Costas needs that piece that was lost in the puzzle to fit as best as possible, taking into account that it is not there either. Roger Martinezwho did not renew his contract.

In the first friendly, Racing started strongly and took the lead after 2 minutes thanks to Vietto’s definitionwho took advantage of a great collective play to open the scoring. The 31-year-old forward, who joined the squad in October and had not played since May, played 10 parties between the Professional League and the Copa Sudamericana, and scored three goals, all at the domestic level.

The clarification regarding his ownership is that he did it on the left side of the attack and the one who went to the right was Maxi Salaswith Adrián ‘Maravilla’ Martínez as center forward.

The only one absent was Gabriel Rojaswho suffers from an overload and missed the two friendlies, since he was not against General Caballero either. His place was taken Facundo Mura. In fact, taking out Vietto’s change, the formation he planted against 2 de Mayo – who equalized immediately, after seven minutes – was the same one that won the final against Cruzeiro to win the Copa Sudamericana.

The eleven that Costas lined up was with Gabriel Arias Di Césare, Sosa, García Basso; Martirena, Nardoni, Almendra (later Bruno Zuculini joined), Mura; Salas, Martínez and Vietto.

The second game brought better news for Racing, because it had two of the youth players who are making their first weapons in the First Division: Ramiro Degregorio was the star of the match, scoring the two goals that sealed the 2-0 victory and David González also stood out.

The team will return to Buenos Aires and will have another trip before the debut in the Professional League: on Saturday the 18th they will visit Colo-Colo at the Monumental stadium in Santiago, with television on the Disney+ platform, starting at 8:00 p.m.

The Costas team will make its debut as a visitor to Barracas Central from 5:00 p.m. on Friday, January 24.

Despite the lack of reinforcements so far, Costas awaits with expectation the arrival of key additions, such as Matías Zaracho and Facundo Faríasto reinforce a squad that faces a 2025 full of important competitions. With the Libertadores, the Recopa Sudamericana, the Apertura, the Clausura and the Argentine Cup on the calendar.