The applause is warm. It is the reflection of a great first half that did not have continuity in the second phase. Racing went from playing thirty-five minutes at high altitude to a draw and a complement in which it has always sought, but without lucidity. The equipment has been turned off. And Fernando Gago’s modifications didn’t work. So those two points he missed against Arsenal could be decisive in the fight for the championship. Yes the Academy Usually he is the protagonist, he dominates the games, but he doesn’t always manage to close them. He is happening to him often, especially as a visitor. There is some instability in the game. It happened to him with Newell’s, Saturday in Rosario, and last night with Arsenal at home. And in some counterattack, he might as well have lost it.

To find that goal he was looking for and deserved at 1 to 1 from Arsenal. The result has little to do with the development of the first half, a period in which Racing was the master of the scene and played in the rival field, circulated the ball with discretion and when the rival took refuge he surprised with cross deliveries. And if he didn’t take the lead earlier, it was the product of Alejandro Medina’s great performance and his lack of determination in the box.

Two were Enzo Copetti’s head shots that collided with the steady hands of the Arsenal goalkeeper. Another from Chaqueño without direction and another from Emiliano Insúa at the near post, also out of goal. However, the clearest was Gabriel Hauche, after a move by Gonzalo Piovi and Jonathan Gómez. On a tile, at the door to the small area, he was shaking with a bomb that went off on the crossbar.

The races showed a large volume of play, especially in the first half hour. And there were two fundamental aspects. First, the schema modification. Gago set aside for a while the 4-3-3 in which aggression is sought from the extremes and focused on the 4-2-3-1 with Aníbal Moreno and Leonel Miranda in the role of central midfielders and sent on the field to a footballer who came out of his prey, who had just escaped in the First Division and had experienced a traveling course in the last decade. This is Nicolás Oroz.

The 28-year-old creative midfielder showed all his talent. Starting from the right, with the profile changed, or appearing to match Gómez or Piovi on the left. Puntano offered passing and processing options. He also dealt with set pieces. And Racing was strong inside to close with the centers that generated complications in the last line of visit.

Arsenal arrived at the Cilindro aboard the 4-4-2 usually used by Leonardo Madelón, but almost unable to recover the ball. When this happened it was due to unforced errors on the part of Racing. He was always running from behind. But after Piovi’s left, the game became dirty and just as Leonardo Rey Hilfer was about to collect a penalty from Gastón Chimino on Gómez, he found an equalizer.

Mauro Pittón hits a goalkeeper from the right, the ball crosses the central defenders’ line and Facundo Kruspzky anticipates Gastón Gómez, who comes out late and allows Arsenal number 10 to take the ball 1-1.

The race continued with the same offensive posture in the second half, but Gago chose to appeal on the bench. From the beginning Carlos Alcaraz replaced Miranda, who had not played well, but has other characteristics. The steering wheel played very far from the door. And it wasn’t good. Subsequently, he removed Oroz and Jonathan to include Edwin Cardona and Johan Carbonero. None of the Colombians justified the millions they invested in their passes. The snag was more active, playing pitcher, but ended up inaccurate. The striker has not yet entered the club’s orbit.

And after a while he added Matías Rojas, another midfielder, in place of Hauche. The Paraguayan had it, but Medina has it covered. Later, he participated little because Arsenal brought Racing, defended and almost won him in a retort that showed Jonathan Galván’s solvency in a barbaric cross that could have ended in Chimino’s goal of life.

Messy, pure in the center, with Copetti who lowers everything, but Mura and Carbonero solve very badly, al strikeout, as our grandparents used to say. So ended Racing. With a point he knows very little about. Madelón, old fox, has won the tactical duel. With less hierarchy, but more intelligence.