Maradona makes stumbling debut as Gimnasia coach

Diego Maradona had a bitter first outing as the new coach for Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata, falling to Racing Club 2-1 during the sixth week of Argentina’s Superliga campaign.

After all the hoopla and great expectations for Maradona at the helm of Gimnasia, he got off to a poor start against Racing, which notched its second win in the Argentine league.

Diego Gonzalez and Federico Zaracho scored the goals for Racing, while Matias Garcia found the twine for Maradona’s squad.

With the stumbling result, Gimnasia remains at the bottom of the ranking table with just one point from a tie, but five defeats, while Racing has nine points, five behind San Lorenzo, for which at the moment is on top of the heap.

On Saturday, River Plate drubbed Huracan 4-0 while San Lorenzo had to accept its first loss in a 2-1 outing against Colon in Santa Fe.

In other Argentine action on Saturday, the surprising Arsenal de Sarandi whacked Union 4-1 to remain near the top with 12 points, just like the undefeated Argentinos Juniors, who prevailed 1-0 over Godoy Cruz in Mendoza, while Defensa y Justicia beat Central Cordoba 2-1 in Santiago del Estero.

On Sunday, the action will continue with five more matches, with three key elements: the return of Julio Cesar Falcioni as coach of Banfield going up against Talleres, the Rosario classic between Rosario Central and Newell’s Old Boys, and Boca Juniors (the only undefeated squad) trying to keep its perfect record against Estudiantes.