Atletico Mineiro vs Defensor Sporting Predictions

Thursday’s Copa Libertadores final qualification round, second leg clash sees Brazilians Atletico Mineiro doing battle with Uruguayans Defensor Sporting. Atletico are expected to cruise into the group stage, having already won the first leg by a 2-0 margin.

Atletico, as expected, dominated the first game between the two and stamped their authority on the tie. Galo had already seen off Uruguayan opposition in the form of Danubio in the last qualification round and they’re now well on the way towards the kind of deep run in the competition that fans are expecting. to see over the coming year

In excellent form, confidence is running extremely high in home ranks coming into this one and those taking to the pitch will be looking to put on a show for the home crowd. Indeed, 9 matches unbeaten and having won their last 5, Atletico are simply on fire at the moment and said sequence has it looking very likely they’ll build on a run that reads 13 Libertadores home games unbeaten, 11 of which wins.

Meanwhile, Uruguayans Defensor Sporting only progressed into this round courtesy of a disciplinary technicality, having lost both legs of their tie with Ecuadorians Barcelona SC. The side certainly hadn’t progressed to this point on sporting merit and as expected, they were blown away by Atletico in the first leg.

La Viola are in truly horrendous form at the moment and that leaves a comeback looking all but impossible on Thursday. Indeed, the visitors have lost their last 4 matches without even so much as scoring a goal and having also lost their last 2 games by more than a single goal margin, focus can only be on trying to avoid a hammering on Thursday.

Ultimately, we predicted an extremely one sided tie when these two were put together and you have to fear for Defensor coming into this second leg. They were outclassed by the hosts in front of their own fans, so it only looks like getting even worse now that they have to travel to face them.

We fully expect Atletico to win this match with no issues whatsoever and considering how blunt Defensor are in attack, a bet on a home win to nil looks an excellent way to play. Atletico have won 3 of their last 5 matches to nil and we see them adding to that sequence with a dominant 3-0 victory.