Rionegro Aguilas vs Independiente Predictions

Wednesday’s Copa Sudamericana second round, first leg action sees Colombians Rionegro Aguilas doing battle with Argentines Independiente at the Estadio Alberto Grisales. The visitors are huge favourites in the tie overall and will be looking to stamp their authority on it in this game against a Rionegro outfit that hardly appears capable of causing an upset.

Rionegro may have edged past Bolivians Oriente Petrolero narrowly on penalties in the first round of the competition, but this tie ranks as a massive step up in quality for them and their chances of advancing any further look very slim. The side weren’t expected to make many waves in the Sudamericana and it’s fair to say their continental journey looks like coming to an end in this tie..

Whilst upsets in the Copa Sudamericana are hardly rare, it’s very hard to have any faith in Rionegro causing one, considering the miserable year they are having and the way they are playing. They finished the opening phase of the Colombian top flight in 19th place, taking just 16 points from 20 games and that hardly suggests they are ready to truly challenge one of South America’s true giants

Indeed, Independiente are one of the outstanding candidates to win the Sudamericana title, which they lifted back in 2017, and El Rojo certainly got off on the right foot, hammering Peruvians Deportivo Binacional 6-2 in the first round of action with two commanding showings.

Ariel Holan’s troops have just finished 7th in the Superliga Argentina and will be expecting to win this tie without any issues. They have undoubted quality in their ranks that makes them more than a match for anyone in South America and having won 4 of their last 6 games, they arrive in confident mood for this trip.

Ultimately, this is a real David vs Goliath clash, with the side at polar opposites in just about every aspect. Independiente have quality and resources which Rionegro can only dream about and it’d be a real embarrassment if the Argentines were to crash out against such a small opponent.

All things considered, we’re more than happy to back Independiente winning on the night and they should have too much quality for Rionegro. Rionegro have won just 2 of their last 9 home games and it’s hard to see them giving Independiente any real problems, with a 2-1 margin of away victory appearing on the cards.