Cerro Porteno vs River Plate Predictions

Thursday’s Copa Libertadores quarter final, second leg clash sees Paraguayans Cerro Porteno doing battle with Argentines River Plate at the Estadio General Pablo Rojas. The visitors arrive firmly in the driving seat after picking up a 2-0 win in last week’s first leg.

Despite having done well to advance from a group containing Atletico Mineiro, Zamora and Nacional as well as seeing off San Lorenzo to reach this point, getting the better of River Plate was always going to be a big ask of hosts Cerro. Indeed, the disparity in quality between themselves and the competition holders was more than apparent in Buenos Aires and in the end, El Ciclon were quite fortunate to escape just the two goals down.

Coming into Thursday;s game, Cerro now need a miracle and they aren’t currently playing in a manner that would suggest one is forthcoming. Indeed, the side have won just 2 of their last 9 matches and without a win in 3 home games, they aren’t currently showing the strength on home soil they’ve previously been renowned for.

Meanwhile, River met all expectations in the first leg and are now well on the road to retaining their continental crown. Marcelo Gallardo’s men have thus far advanced from a group containing Internacional, Alianza Lima and Palestino, as well as seeing off Cruzeiro to reach this point and will now be confident in going on to win the trophy.

River did slip up at the weekend, losing 1-0 at home to Talleres but their focus has been on this return leg for quite some time now and it’s of far greater importance for them. Unbeaten in an impressive 12 Libertadores matches, River have every reason to have faith in their ability to see their lead through and know that if they even play at close to their maximum, they’ll be more than o.k.

Ultimately, this is a tie that looks all but over and you just can’t see a way back for Cerro Porteno. Man for man, they are weaker in all areas of the pitch than River and given the manner in which the Argentines dominated the first leg, it could be another tough evening for the Paraguayans.

All things considered, we’re more than happy to back a River Plate win on Thursday and feel it provides good value as far as the betting is concerned. Prior to their weekend defeat, River had been on fire, winning 3 matches in a row by a combined score of 11-1 and we think they’ll return to winning ways here, with a 2-0 margin of away victory firmly on the cards.