Union La Calera vs Atletico Mineiro Predictions

Wednesday’s Copa Sudamericana second round, first leg action sees Chileans Union La Calera doing battle with Brazilians Atletico Mineiro at the Estadio Municipal Nicolás Chahuán Nazar. The hosts will be looking to make their home advantage count ahead of a tough return fixture.

Union La Calera have done very well to even make it into the second round of the competition. They weren’t expected to make many waves in the competition and when they were drawn against Chapecoense in the first round, most expected them to be eliminated but they managed to cause something of an upset, advancing on away goals after a 1-1 aggregate draw.

Now with another Brazilian opponent in their sights, the side will be looking for another good performance on Wednesday. The Chileans are undoubtedly underdogs in the tie overall, but will be confident in their chances in this first leg, having won 4 of their last 6 home games with some strong performances.

Meanwhile, simply being in this competition ranks as a massive failure for Atletico Mineiro. They went into a Libertadores group containing Nacional, Cerro Porteno and Zamora as comfortable favourites to win it but somehow managed to miss out on last 16 progression all together, meaning they’ve now dropped into the Sudamericana.

At the moment, Atletico’s priority is domestic Serie A football and they don’t appear to be giving the Sudamericana full importance, something reflected in the fact they’ve left some of their key players at home for this trip. They’ll still want to win the game, but with an understrength team, that will be easier said than done against an opponent that needs to be respected and has already dumped out one of their compatriots.

All things considered, whilst Atletico are by far a bigger name than Union La Calera, this is a match the hosts will be confident of their chances in. They are typically strong on home soil and are taking the competition far more seriously than Atletico seem to be, with the changes they’ll make here in mind.

As such, backing a Union win looks the best way to play as far as the betting’s concerned and is exactly where our money is going at a more than reasonable price. It won’t be easy by any means, but Union should have enough to edge ahead of a weakened Atletico outfit in the tie via a 1-0 margin of victory.