Racing Club fans demand their team lose to help relegate bitter rivals Independiente

Racing Club face Argentinean Primera Division rivals Quilmes on Friday, but fans of La Academia will not necessarily be cheering their side to victory.

Some of the more radical followers of the Avellaneda side last week distributed a flyer urging players to lose the match with Quilmes, as a defeat will help bitter rivals Independiente plunge deeper into relegation trouble. "Players! Lose or rot in hell," it read.

A cursory glance at the Clausura table shows that Racing and Independiente are sitting comfortably in tenth and eleventh place respectively. However, thanks to the incredibly complicated relegation system in Argentina where the teams with the worst average over three years are sent down Independiente are actually in the drop zone right now.

Quilmes will have every motivation to win the match without assistance, as they sit just above Independiente in the relegation averages.

Yet Racing Club ultras have made it quite clear that they wish to fold like a cheap suit, thanks to a feud that dates back to 1983, when Independiente are thought to have deliberately lost to Quilmes in order to help Racing slip down to the Primera B Nacional.

Racing Club president Gaston Cogorno has urged his players to win the game and ignore the requests of fans, but his request may be falling on deaf ears. Well, terrified ears.