Nacional De Football vs San Lorenzo Predictions

Wednesday’s Copa Sudamericana round of 16, second leg action sees Uruguayans Nacional doing battle with Argentines San Lorenzo. It’s the hosts with it all to do having lost the first leg 3-1 in Buenos Aires.

2018 has been an excellent year for Nacional thus far for Nacional, but having already narrowly crashed out of the group stages of the Copa Libertadores on goal difference, yet another continental exit would put a real damper on it. Los Albos have been dominant domestically, winning both the opening and intermediate phases of the Uruguayan season, but fans are desperate for continental success, something evident in the fact the Estadio Gran Parque Central is expected to be a sellout for Wednesday’s game.

Two goals down, Nacional clearly have a lot of work to do but their excellent home record will surely inspire confidence. Overall, Alexander Medina’s troops have won 18 of their 22 home games this year and having also won 5 of their last 6 on soil, Nacional come into the clash with plenty of momentum behind them.

Meanwhile, visitors San Lorenzo are continuing to flatter to deceive, with their authoritative performance in the first leg far from the norm of what they typically produce. Indeed, having lost both games in their clash with Chileans Deportes Temuco in the last round of the Sudamericana, but advancing courtesy of their opponents fielding an ineligible player, El Ciclon are fortunate to even still be in competition.

Nonetheless, in it they are and Claudio Biaggio’s troops will be desperate to finish off the job in the Uruguayan capital. However, with a far from convincing away record that reads no wins from the last 8 and 3 defeats from the last 5, it’s clear for all to see this is a tie that is far from over and the Argentines will have to improve significantly if they are to see things through comfortably.

All things considered, when looking at this fixture it really looks a question of whether Nacional’s win will be sufficient to advance rather than if they’ll actually win the match. The hosts are simply dominant on their own patch and whilst they struggled against San Lorenzi in the first leg, we think they’ll be able to get the better of them this time around are more than happy to back a home win as a result.

That being said, San Lorenzo are an outfit capable of keeping things tight and typically play in an uninspiring manner, so Nacional may well be hard pressed to find the two goal victory they need. Nacional’s last 3 home victories have all been by slender 1-0 margins and with San Lorenzo’s last 2 away defeats having been by the same scoreline, we think Nacional will run out victors on the night but not in the tie overall, with a 1-0 Nacional win on the cards.