News this week that will bring nostalgic memories to all Spurs fans of a certain age, and a smile to the face of anyone who remembers the revolutionary eleven-man frontline they once deployed. In a few short months, Osvaldo César Ardiles may be returning to management.

It's all come rather suddenly for fans of La Academia. For ages it had been evident that manager Reinaldo 'Mostaza' Merlo's position at Racing was untenable, with the team playing dreadfully and slipping further and further down the league. His continued presence on the bench was due, in no small part, to a peculiarly Argentine trait – the ability to forgive great old club heroes anything before calling for their heads.

Call for his head they did in the last few weeks, though, and in the end it's perhaps a little surprising that he (apparently) left of his own free will. He did so with a sideswipe at the club's directors, claiming that Fernando De Tomaso, the president, had refused him a chat last week and that the club's owners (Racing are the only sizeable club in Argentina who are privately owned, a result of bankruptcy in 2002) had failed to follow through on promises made when he took charge.

In his place, Racing have appointed Miguel Micó as caretaker manager, but in the long term a few names are being bandied about, and the most intriguing is that of Ossie. Ardiles managed Racing in the 2002-03 season and, despite currently basing himself in London - now why can't the Beeb get him for MOTD? - would reportedly be interested in the challenge of turning Racing's fortunes round. 'Repatriating' him would be a popular move with just about every fan in Argentina, not just those of Racing.

Even Ardiles would have to go some to get more goals out of a match than Micó did on Sunday, though. Having said that, half of them were for the opposition, Racing coming back from 3-1 down shortly after half-time to draw 3-3 at home to Belgrano. Still, a draw's as good as it gets for fans of La Academia lately, and they did at any rate have some entertainment in the form of two absolutely spectacular efforts – albeit from the visitors.

The big game of the weekend fixtures, though, was the La Plata derby. Could Gimnasia get revenge for the 7-0 pasting champions Estudiantes gave them during the Apertura? It started well. So well, in fact, that after just three minutes Estudiantes striker José Calderón got sent off for a horrible tackle, and after 38 minutes Gimnasia found themselves 1-0 up. Then it all went wrong. The lead lasted two minutes before Mariano Pavone* cancelled it out with a penalty he won himself, before wrapping things up midway through the second half. Still, Gimnasia avoided getting utterly humiliated.

It was all the more frustrating after the way they'd built up to it. Last Thursday night Gimnasia played Defensor Sporting of Uruguay in their final group match of the Copa Libertadores. Due to goal difference, Gimnasia needed to win by four goals in order to leapfrog Defensor. Due to being rubbish, they had absolutely no chance of doing this. So, why not rest the main players for the derby at the weekend and give the kids a run-out, since they were really already out anyway?

Oh dear. The kids went in 2-0 up at half-time, and played superbly in the second half as well, taking a 3-0 lead with 15 minutes remaining. Then the fourth goal... failed to materialise. Shooting themselves in the foot somewhat, considering that they didn't win the derby either. Vélez, however, are through thanks to a 1-0 victory over Emelec. Boca and River still have to play their final matches of the group stage later this week – River, of course, are already out, but Boca, third in Group 7 and two behind both Cienciano and Toluca, will definitely qualify if they win by enough, since the two sides above them play each other.

There were more 'asterisks' last weekend, as the Argentines refer to a match that's been called off. Tragicomically, said match involved Quilmes for the third time in four weeks. Quilmes' last two home games have, as I said last week, been postponed due to an argument with security authorities over a stadium ban (Quilmes refused to play in the venue they were ordered to three weeks ago, whilst a week ago the security folk told them that they wouldn't send anyone to work at their own ground). This week it wasn't their fault, because nine minutes into their visit to Lanús the floodlights failed. Quilmes have now played once in the last month, and José Mourinho thinks Liverpool have it easy! They're away again in the mountaintop city of Jujuy next weekend – Quilmes, that is, not Liverpool.

Perhaps there'll be a landslide, snowstorm, maybe even a plague of frogs... You know where to look next week to find out whether it actually went ahead.

*Known elsewhere in the English-speaking press as Hugo Pavone, due to having two Christian names (like Juan Sebastian Verón or Juan Román Riquelme). As elsewhere in my columns, I'm going with what his own countrymen call him. They should know best, after all.

20th-22nd April:
Arsenal de Sarandí 1-0 Gimnasia y Esgrima de Jujuy
Argentinos Juniors 1-1 Colón de Santa Fé
Lanús vs Quilmes – suspended due to floodlight failure
Nueva Chicago 0-0 Independiente
Newell's Old Boys 1-2 Boca Juniors
River Plate 2-1 Banfield
Godoy Cruz de Mendoza 1-2 San Lorenzo de Almagro
Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata 1-2 Estudiantes de La Plata
Racing Club 3-3 Belgrano de Córdoba
Vélez Sarsfield 0-2 Rosario Central

Copa Libertadores 2007

18th April:
Group 1
Banfield 0-1 Libertad (Paraguay)

19th April:
Group 4
Vélez 1-0 Emelec (Ecuador)

Group 8
Gimnasia 3-0 Defensor Sporting (Uruguay)