Primera Division Argentina: San Lorenzo Stuns Racing in Thrilling Classic

When Racing and San Lorenzo took the field Saturday night in Avellaneda, the two giants of Argentine soccer were at different ends of the confidence scale.

San Lorenzo had entered the season dreaming of glory with the return of coach Ramón Díaz, who had led them to the title in 2007. However, through two matches, El Ciclón could only manage two draws and were lucky to get away with a point in each match, having been badly out played by both Gimnasia and Godoy Cruz.

Racing, on the other hand, was riding high after claiming six points from two matches, including a come from behind victory over Boca Juniors in La Bombonera last week.

In front of 50,000 singing white and light blue-clad fans, it was a party in the Cilindro de Avellaneda from the opening kick off as it appeared to be only a matter of time before Racing opened the scoring.

Despite controlling the first 20 minutes of action, Racing found themselves trailing by a goal after ex-Bayern Leverkusen and Bordeaux man Diego Placente laid off a pass for Guillermo Pereyra to slot into the far corner to hand San Lorenzo a lead they barely deserved.

Just moments after Pereyra’s opener, Racing’s Colombia International Giovanni Moreno had a decent penalty claim turned down by referee Hector Baldassi.

Racing continued to press forward in search of the equalizer, but San Lorenzo goalkeeper Damián Albil was in fine form making a number of key stops including two from Patricio Toranzo and one from Lucas Licht’s free kick.

At the break, Racing manager Miguel Angel Russo would have been concerned by Giovanni Moreno’s inability to get into the match.

The former Atlético Nacional man was the key signing for Racing during the offseason, but the Colombia star is still struggling to adapt to the physicality of the Argentine Primera Divisisión.

After the interval, Moreno was able to link up better with his teammates, but Racing needed a defensive give away from Sebastián Luna to pull even.

After the former Quilmes man lost his possession in the middle of the park, Pablo Lugüercio unleashed an unstoppable drive from over the 30 yards into the bottom corner causing mass celebrations on the side of Racing.

La Academia was unable to take advantage of the momentum and the imposing noise of the crowd, and it was San Lorenzo who should have killed the game off.

Substitute Emiliano Alfaro was put through on goal, but was amazingly denied in a one on one situation by Racing keeper Roberto Fernández.

It had appeared that San Lorenzo had would live to rue Alfaro’s shocking miss, but Uruguayan striker Sebastián Balsas headed his team into the lead from Juan Manuel Torres’s corner.

The former Nacional and Racing Montevideo star raced to the side line to celebrate with his coach Ramón Díaz, who has now beaten Racing 16 times n 22 meetings as manager, including all winning all five times as San Lorenzo’s boss.