Union Espanola vs Sporting Cristal Predictions

Tuesday’s Copa Sudamericana second round, first leg action sees Chileans Union Espanola doing battle with Peruvians Sporting Cristal. The hosts will be looking to establish an advantage to take with them for what will be a tough return leg.

Having eliminated Ecuadorians Mushuc Runa in the first round, Union Espanola have already bettered their effort in the Sudamericana last season, in which they crashed out at the first hurdle. Now into the second round, the Chileans will be itching to progress deeper into the competition and piece together a sustained continental run.

The hosts arrive in decent shape and have looked a pretty cohesive unit throughout 2019. They currently stand 3rd in the Chilean top flight and having won their last two games, have confidence running through their ranks, leaving their prospects high of building on a run which now reads 4 wins from their last 7 home games.

Meanwhile, Sporting Cristal have dropped into the Sudamericana, having already been eliminated from the Libertadores. The Peruvians didn’t look very strong in what was a fairly weak group in said competition, and that doesn’t leave their chances of going deep into the Sudamericana looking very big.

Indeed, whilst they tend to be competitive on home soil in continental action, it’s Sporting Cristal’s terrible away record on the continent that repeatedly lets them down and that’s a big worry coming into this game. They have lost 9 of their last 10 continental away games and will be desperate to avoid losing once again on Tuesday.

Ultimately, whilst this should be quite a hard tie to call over the two legs, when analysing this fixture is a standalone clash, it becomes far more apparent who the most likely winners are, and that’s Union Espanola. They are in good form and are typically strong on home soil, meaning they have to be considered favourites on the night.

All things considered, backing the hosts to win looks to provide good value and is something we’re more than happy to do. Sporting Cristal’s struggles on the road are simply too awful to ignore and we can’t envisage anything other than them falling to defeat once again, with a 3-1 margin of home victory on the cards. Union know this is a match they really need to be winning by a comfortable margin and should play in an aggessive, attacking manner to ensure they do exactly that.