There are times when it is not easy to explain a goal against. There are usually mistakes, of course. And not forced, too. Mistakes that sometimes border on the unusual. That was what happened this Wednesday, in the match that Racing plays against Coquimbo Unidos, from Chile, for the third date of the Copa Sudamericana.
42 minutes had passed and the Academy was winning 1-0, due to the goal scored by Santiago Solari at 10. In the middle of Racing’s departure, Bruno Zuculini could not control a pass and Coquimbo’s counterattack arrived, led by Mundaca, who tried to search with a frontal pass to Cabral. Agustín García Basso cut the delivery and played left-footed backwards for Gabriel Arias. It was a simple pass, low on the ground, slow, that did not seem to represent any problem… but the goalkeeper got complicated, the ball continued past after grazing his right foot, and continued its journey towards the net: 1-1. Unusual.
While all of Coquimbo celebrated the partial tie, the two Racing players talked about what happened. Arias looked for the disconsolate García Basso, hugged him, shook his hand, and seemed to take responsibility for the mistake, pointing out to the defender: “It left me,” while he pointed out that he was responsible for the situation.
In any case, Racing seemed to soon recover from that mistake, and before the end of the first half managed to take the lead again, this time with a penalty – a foul on Maxi Salas – converted by Adrián “Maravilla” Martínez in the fourth minute of discount. The forward is going through a brilliant moment, with 9 goals in his last 7 games with the albiceleste shirt.