Atletico Nacional Medellin vs Libertad Asuncion Predictions

Friday’s Copa Libertadores final qualification round, second leg clash sees Colombians Atletico Nacional doing battle with Paraguayans Libertad. The visitors will be looking to hang onto the 1-0 lead they established in the first leg.

Atletico Nacional entered the Copa Libertadores this season looking to qualify for the group stage as a bare minimum but they’ve left themselves with plenty of work to do after a 1-0 defeat in Paraguay. El Verde had plenty of the ball in said game, but lacked a punch in attack and if improvement isn’t found on Friday, they’ll be heading for an early exit from the competition.

Confidence simply cannot be high in Nacional ranks right now and the team isn’t functioning well as a unit. The pressure is fully on the side to win this game but without a victory in 5 matches, their prospects don’t look very bright coming into it, particularly because they’ve failed to score in 3 of their last 4 matches.

Meanwhile, whilst Libertad will be happy to have won the first leg, they’ll also be regretting that the lead they bring isn’t a more substantial one. The Paraguayans certainly have plenty of work left to do here in Medellin but the squad they’ve constructed looks a strong one and should be up for the challenge.

Indeed, Libertad are in good form and confidence is high coming into the trip. The side have lost just 1 of their last 6 games, and having avoided defeat at a notoriously hard to visit The Strongest during that run, there’s no reason for apprehension prior to what is again a fairly difficult trip, despite the poor form of Atletico Nacional.

Ultimately, whilst a home comeback cannot be entirely ruled out, Atletico Nacional are doing little to inspire hope of it either with their blunt recent showings. We expect them to do more of the attacking over the 90 minutes, but Libertad are a strong unit that have already shown they are able to contain the Colombians.

All things considered, we think Atletico Nacional are priced far too short to win the game and as such, value can be found in backing the visitors on the double chance line. The hosts are certainly not the force they were in years gone by and we think the visitors will be able to see through their lead via a goalless draw, a scoreline that also looks well worth a play at appealing odds.