The Argentine top flight is going to THE WIRE: Who can win it and how?
The Argentine Liga Profesional is wide open with just two games left, but who can actually lift the trophy
Argentina's First Division title is going to the wire. The tournament is entering it's final few matchdays, and three teams hold most of the cards to win it: Boca Juniors, Racing Club and Atlético Tucuman. With two games remaining, who are they playing and what are their chances?
Atlético Tucuman
Leaders for a long time, the team from the Argentinian countryland is the one furthest away from lifting the title right now. With 45 points, they're three away from leaders Boca Juniors.
Lucas Pusineri looked set to be leading Atletico Tucuman to an historic first title, but they've fallen a bit from contention
The good part? Both of el Decano's remaining fixtures are against mid to lower table teams in Union de Santa Fe and Defensa y Justicia. Win both of them, and the team led by Lucas Pusineri can get to 51 points. Provided Boca Juniors takes no more than 2 points of their remaining games and Racing Club takes no more than 3, they can still be champions.
Racing Club
Celebrations must've been jubilant when Boca Juniors dropped three crucial points against Newell's Old Boys last week. Currently with 47 points, la Academia will face Lanús and River Plate in their last remaining fixtures.
Enzo Copetti has been the fire behind Racing Club's title challenge, but they still need some luck
With Lanús currently second to last in the table and River Plate still reeling from the departure announcement by long time coach Marcelo Gallardo, taking six from six isn't an incredibly hard ask, but the side led by former Real Madrid player Fernando Gago still need Atletico Tucuman to lose at least one and Boca Juniors to at least take two point fewer, which takes us to...
Boca Juniors
El Xeneize is the only team that holds all the cards. In fact, there's really only a title race thanks to their blunder against Newell's Old Boys, which saw them lose three key points against a 10 men side.
Hugo Ibarra has led a very young Boca Juniors with the likes of Alan Varela (left of the image), Luis Vázquez (right) and Luca Langoni (centre) to contention, but some are very critical of their style
Questioned for their style, but still a remorseless winning machine, the side led by Hugo Ibarra needs only to match whatever the best of the other two candidates does and they'll lift the trophy. They'll have to complete their cancelled fixture against Gimnasia La Plata and also face Independiente, although they have the extra caveat that they also play in the semifinals of the Copa Argentina, meaning they have a bit of fixture congestion.
Derby Day
As some eagle eyed readers might have spotted, should things hold up until the last matchday, that would mean that Boca Juniors and Racing Club would face each other's derby rivals (River Plate and Independiente respectively) in their last match. Things are sure to flare up if that's the case, with so much at stake and passions in the middle.
Continue reading: Gallardo's barely stepping down, but River Plate already have a replacement
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