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Diego Milito will have the photo he wanted on his first day in office as president of Racing. This Friday afternoon, at 7 p.m., at a press conference, he will sit next to Gustavo Costas in the Cilindro press room to announce the renewal of the contract until December 2025 of the Copa Sudamericana champion coach.
The talks between just sebastianThe club’s brand new sports director, and Costas’ entourage, had started two weeks ago, even before Milito won the elections that marked a participation record in the club’s history. On both sides they agreed on the desire for the symbol of racinguismo to be sitting on the academic bench to go for more in this upcoming year.. The obstacle was economic.
And it was resolved during noon this Friday, just a few hours after the new board of directors took office, in what was the first official management as a Board of Directors. In addition to Saja and Gustavo Costas’ representative, Diego Cifarelli, the club’s new treasurer, joined the talk.
In December of last year, determined to fulfill his dream of returning to the club of his loves after more than 15 years of exile, Costas signed his return without regard. Without caring that he was not one of the first options, without talking about numbers, without bothering about presenting his project to leaders who did not make the club’s decisions. I wanted to return to Racing to make history. And he did it.
Now, on the eve of the end of the year and the expiration of his contract, He put on the table his status as champion coach of the Copa Sudamericana and record man in achieving glory with clubs from five different countries (Paraguay, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador and Argentina). After weeks of long negotiations, which seemed like they were going to extend until after Christmas, both parties gave in and reached an agreement this Friday.
There was no plan B. Neither Diego Alonso nor Hernán Crespo, To name two coaches who are out of work and were studied, they were convincing due to their profile. There was no other option for the man who fulfilled his dream and who in the last game against River ended up singing to the rhythm of the people: “Now we are going for the Libertadores.”
That will be the tone of this afternoon’s press conference, in which the president and coach begin to turn the page on 2024 to start thinking about the next season, in which the Academy will have a double international challenge: the Recopa Sudamericana and the Copa Libertadores.
The public reunion between Costas and Milito will be special. A quarter of a century ago, together with Humberto Maschio, It was the same coach who gave that lanky forward who had been champion in the Fourth Division the chance to debut in the first division. That was in a 3 to 3 against Unión, in Santa Fe, for the 18th date of the 1999 Apertura Tournament. Now, on December 20, 2024, Costas will also be the protagonist of Milito’s debut as president. The turns of football.
What remains between now and the team’s return to training on January 2 is the assembly of the squad. The continuity of the Colombians Roger Martínez and Juan Fernando Quintero was raised as a priority. In addition, there are other contractual situations to be resolved. And there are additions in the pipeline, to reinforce the right sector of the defense and also the midfield. The idea is that the brand new technical secretariat led by Saja works together with the coaching staff. The first step that Milito had considered was to retain Costas. And it is given.
