Gustavo Costas returns to Cerro Porteno nearly two decades after his golden era

With his suitcase freshly packed and still carrying the taste of Racing in his mouth, Gustavo Costas boarded a flight to Asuncion. He isn't heading to just any club: he's returning to one that shaped him, nearly twenty years after his first spell there. Cerro Porteno is counting on him to pull it out of a crisis that has left the club far from where its fans believe it should be.

Before boarding, at the airport, Costas didn't hide his excitement for what's ahead.

People know very well how much I love Paraguay. It's the country that opened its doors for me to work, and ever since then the Paraguayan people have always treated me very well.Gustavo Costas

The Argentine coach had already led the blue and red side between 2005 and 2006, and it was no ordinary stint: he claimed three titles in just two and a half years, the 2005 Apertura and the 2005 and 2006 Clausura tournaments. That memory carries weight, and he made it clear himself with words full of affection.

Coming back to a place where I spent two and a half amazing years. We won championships, but beyond that, the way people always treated me. It's a beautiful challenge.Gustavo Costas

A Cerro that needs to respond

The current reality is different. Cerro Porteno sits ninth out of 12 teams in the Paraguayan championship, a position that would unsettle anyone familiar with the club's history. Even so, Costas chose not to dramatize things or pile pressure on the squad right after arriving. Still, he was clear about the message he's bringing with him.

"The team is fine at this moment, but that's what we're here for," he said, before raising the level of demand: "You always have to lift things up. Cerro can't be like this, it's a big club. The players know they need to give a bit more, all of them. You can't stay still or ever throw in the towel. My teams play with intensity." Words that already hint at the style he'll use to try to turn things around.

This isn't the first time Costas has made his mark on Paraguayan soccer. Besides that golden run at Cerro, he also coached Olimpia between 2007 and 2008, so he's arriving on ground he knows by heart, with the advantage of understanding how soccer is lived there and what people expect from him.

A nod to Vojvoda and a message for Racing

Before fully cutting ties with the Academia, Costas had words for Juan Pablo Vojvoda, the coach who took over after his departure. "I wish Vojvoda all the best. I congratulated Chacho and Cocca and thanked them for making my family so happy back in the day. I hope he can pull it off too. He has everything, a ton of ability, but he needs time," he said, asking for patience given the institutional situation the club is going through: "You can't demand things from him right now, in a moment when there's all this political stuff going on."

And he made clear that, title aside, his love for Racing hasn't faded: "The badge comes first. Today the most important thing is for Racing to be more united than ever and to be able to win the Copa Argentina to close out the year well. It doesn't matter to me if it's Milito, Blanco, Costas, whoever it is. What matters to me is that Racing is doing well."