Atletico Tucuman vs Gremio Predictions

Wednesday’s Copa Libertadores quarter final, first leg clash sees Argentines Atletico Tucuman and Brazilians Gremio going head to head. The hosts will be looking to establish an advantage to take with them to the return leg.

No matter what happens from now onwards, this Atletico Tucuman team has made history and will live long in supporters’ memories. El Decano, who were playing in the second tier just a couple of years ago, first competed in continental action last season, crashing out at the group stage of the Libertadores but now in the quarter finals, they’ve been the competition’s fairytale story this year and will hold hopes of going even further.

Ricardo Zielinski’s troops are flying at the moment. Not only have they pulled up trees in continental action, but they’ve also made a great start to domestic action, claiming 11 points from their first 5 Superliga matches in the new season. All in all, an unbeaten streak of 10 matches as hosts will have confidence levels high coming into this game and Atletico know they need to secure a good result in order to have any real hope of progressing.

Competition holders and with resources that dwarf those of Atletico, Gremio are the favourites to advance from this tie but boss Renato Gaucho has already emphasised the difficulty of the task at hand. Gremio were not convincing against an unispiring Estudiantes outfit in the round of 16; only advancing after taking the tie to penalties via a last minute goal.and now up against a more powerful Argentine opponent, an improved showing over the two legs is needed.

One thing is clear; if Gremio are to advance, most of their work is likely to be done on home soil, with Tricolor’s away record far from inspiring. Overall, Gremio have won just 1 of their last 9 on the road and having lost 5 of said fixtures, their prospects of living up to their favourites tag on Wednesday doesn’t look the brightest.

Ultimately, whilst we can understand why most people would have Gremio down as favourites to advance overall, we feel Atletico Tucuman have been severely underestimated, taking Wednesday’s match as a standalone fixture and for that exact reason, backing Atletico on the Draw No Bet line really appeals.

Atletico’s fervent home support make the Estadio Monumental José Fierro one of the most difficult venues on the continent to travel to and with Gremio looking weak on the road, the hosts will surely smell blood. Atletico have won 3 of their last 4 home matches, as well as 5 of their last 6 in the Libertadores and all things considered, we believe they’ll be able to edge ahead with a 1-0 win in this one.