Delfin SC vs Nacional Asuncion Predictions

Tuesday’s Copa Libertadores first qualification round, first leg clash sees Ecuadorians Delfin going up against Paraguayans Nacional Asunción. The hosts will be looking to open up an advantage ahead of next week’s second leg.

After making their continental debut last year, minnows Delfin are once again back in the big time, courtesy of their strong finish in last season’s domestic Serie A aggregate table. With few resources, Delfin are not expected to make many waves in the competition and even navigating the qualification rounds into the group stages would rank as good going.

Although they finished bottom of their group in the Libertadores last season, the hosts far from disgraced themselves, taking 7 points from 6 games, whilst recording wins over both Atletico Nacional and Colo Colo. Now all attention is on this year’s efforts and having won their last 6 home matches, El Cetáceo are a real force in front of their home fans and will be confident in making a strong start here.

Meanwhile, for Nacional, this fixture represents a return to the Libertadores for the first time since 2014; the year in which they defied all odds to reach the final before losing to Argentines San Lorenzo. Last year La Academia did compete in the Copa Sudamericana, seeing off Venezuelans Mineros de Guayana in the first round prior to defeat to Brazilians Botafogo and fans will be hoping to see their team piece together a more sustained continental run in the coming months.

If Nacional are to advance from this tie, you’d expect that most of their work will be done next week, as their away record hardly inspires confidence. They haven’t won any of their last 4 games on enemy territory and their Libertadores record as travellers makes for very poor reading, having not won any of their last 17 trips, losing a staggering 13 times in the process.

Ultimately, this is going to be a tie settled by whoever best uses their home advantage and that certainly puts the onus on Delfin on Tuesday. On their own patch, where they are so strong, the Ecuadorians will be itching to take the driving seat and look well placed to do exactly that.

As such, we’re more than happy to back a home win with maximum confidence and said market looks by far the way to play as far as the betting goes. Not only have Delfin won their last 6 home matches, they’ve conceded just twice in doing so and with Nacional set to bring a defensive game plan and notoriously weak on the road, a 1-0 Deflin margin of victory could well be on the cards.