Junior vs Alianza Lima Predictions, Betting Tips and Match Previews

Friday’s Copa Libertadores clash sees Colombians Junior play host to Peruvians Alianza Lima. A comfortable evening is expected to be in order for the home side as they look to pick up three crucial points.

Boca’s defeat at home to Palmeiras last night has really opened a door for Junior. El Tiburon would leapfrog the Argentine champions into a knockout round qualification spot with a win here and given they also have a home game against Boca to come, the Colombians find themselves in a relatively healthy position, despite having only taken 3 points from their opening 3 matches.

Boss Julio Comesaña has recently returned to the Junior dugout for a remarkable eighth stint and inspired his troops well for last week’s game against Alianza. Junior  arrived for that match with a poor continental away record behind them and many fancied Alianza to edge them out, but they instead put in a dominant showing from start to finish, with the Peruvians lucky it only ended 2-0.

Said result leaves the visitors on the brink of elimination once again. Los Blanquiazules have really struggled in the competition in recent appearances and this year’s effort, their first participation since crashing out at the hands of Huracan via a 4-0 aggregate defeat, back in 2015, certainly doesn’t look like being any more successful, with two defeats overshadowing an opening round draw with Boca.

All in all, Alianza have now lost 12 of their last 16 Libertadores matches, and haven’t as much as scored a goal in 5. Things aren’t even going well domestically for Pablo Bengeochea’s men, who despite coming into the new campaign as champions, find themselves 13 points behind Group A leaders Sporting Cristal in the current phase of the season, after only winning 5 of their 13 outings.

Ultimately, it’d be a massive surprise if anything but a comfortable Junior win was the conclusion come full time. The extent in which they dominated last week’s meeting between the two was impressive and with the crowd behind them this week, it’s almost unimaginable to see them slipping up.

Junior are typically a very powerful home side in the competition, winning 6 of their last 7 games on their own patch in the Libertadores. Up against an Alianza outfit that has lost its’ last 4 games on the road without notching, there’s only one way to play, and that’s on the home win to nil.

Junior have also kept the ball out in 4 of those aforementioned continental wins and they should be given little to think about by a visiting team that hasn’t posed much of a threat on the big stage for quite some time now, with a 3-0 margin of victory looking to be on the cards.