Libertad Asuncion vs Atletico Nacional Medellin Predictions

Friday’s Copa Libertadores final qualification round, first leg clash sees Paraguayans Libertad doing battle with Colombians Atletico Nacional. The hosts will be looking to establish an advantage ahead of the second leg.

Libertad breezed through their clash with Bolivians The Strongest in the last round of qualification and now have the group stage firmly in their sights. A solid 1-1 draw at high altitude in the first leg of said tie put them in a good position, of which they took advantage of emphatically with a 5-1 win on home soil.

Those taking to the pitch on Friday will be looking for more of the same and will be very confident of picking up a good result, even if Atletico Nacional do rank as a far stronger team than The Strongest. Having won 10 of their last 11 home games, Libertad are very clearly an extremely powerful outfit in front of their own fans and the fact they’ve kept 7 clean sheets across said matches shows they have the type of defensive stability that is so important in continental clashes.

Meanwhile, Atletico Nacional were far less convincing in their own clash with Deportivo La Guaira, only running out 1-0 winners in a tie they were expected to win at a canter. El Verde did well to win the first leg 1-0 on away territory but showed a lack of a ruthless edge in the second, missing numerous big chances to only edge through after a 0-0 draw on the night.

Now facing a far more talented opponent, Atletico cannot afford to be so wasteful and an improved showing is required, or Libertad will certainly make them pay. Nonetheless, confidence cannot be too high when taking Friday’s game as a standalone fixture. Considering the Colombians have lost 6 of their last 8 Copa Libertadores away games and if the side are to make it into the group stage, their performance in the second leg will likely prove crucial.

Ultimately, over two legs this looks a really tough tie to call and neither of the two can be regarded as a standout favourite. With both typically very strong on home soil, whoever makes best use of their home advantage will likely to be the winner of the tie and as such, the pressure is on Libertad in this match.

All things considered, we do see them handling it however, and a bet on a home win looks to provide excellent value. Libertad are astonishingly consistent on their own patch and rarely fail to turn up and with Atletico Nacional having lost 4 of their aforementioned 6 away defeats in the competition by a 1-0 margin, that’s a scoreline that could well be repeated in what is likely to be a tight game.