Former Vélez Sársfield and Boca Juniors coach Carlos Bianchi believes that having clinched the signing of Andres D'Alessandro, San Lorenzo must now be among the favourites for the Copa Libertadores.

Writing his weekly column for the Spanish ESPN site, Bianchi was quick to praise the work that his former managerial rival Ramón Díaz had done at El Ciclón.

"There is a coaching team and squad there that can win the Libertadores.

"Ramón tries to focus the attention of the club in a positive way towards what he wants, leaving him free to deal with the players and coaching in the games."

Bianchi also believes that with the quality of players that Diaz has at his disposal, San Lorenzo have to be considered among the favourites for the tournament.

"They are good defensively with a quality keeper like Orión, who looks destined for abroad in the future and also the new signing Placente who is a defender that has played for the national team.

"With players like Hirsig, Chaco, Aureliano, Rivero or Bilos they can use a 4-4-2 or 4-3-1-2.

"If we then add D'Alessandro, who will return with a desire to demonstrate his football and show how good he is, we have the player who can perfectly compliment attackers like Silvera, Romeo or Menseguez (and possibly Bergessio) and this makes it clear that their challenge for the Libertadores is real."

Despite praising the squad that Diaz has assembled, Bianchi does, however, believe that they will have to focus solely on the Libertadores if they are to have a chance of winning the competition.

"There are not many teams who can compete in two competitions successfully. Ramón knows how to handle this from experience, but San Lorenzo are not River Plate. With Vélez we had to choose and I will never forget that we finished 18th in the Argentine league when we won the Libertadores."

San Lorenzo are in their centenary year and Bianchi finished his piece by wishing them luck as they look to take South America's premier club competition in celebration of this milestone.

"In this centenary of San Lorenzo they do not have a margin to make a mistake.

"The opportunities exist for all, it is just a question of knowing how to take advantage of them. Congratulations and good luck," he concluded.


A challenge for the Libertadores is certainly possible, especially with the signings of Diego Placente, who will give them plenty of experience at the back, and Andres D'Alessandro, although he will not join until the end of the Eurpean season. Bianchi is right when he says that San Lorenzo will only be able to go for one title, as two titles are very hard to win, and although San Lorenzo are regarded as one of the big five in Argentina, even they do not have the depth to challenge for both the Libertadores and the Clausura.