Libertad Asuncion vs Rosario Central Predictions

Friday’s Copa Libertadores group stage action sees Paraguayans Libertad doing battle with Argentines Rosario Central. The hosts arrive as big favourites to win the match and are expected to claim all three points with relatively few issues.

Hosts Libertad have looked a real force in the Libertadores so far this year and are well on their way to a sustained run in the competition. The Paraguayans first navigated extremely tough qualification ties against The Strongest and Atletico Nacional respectively, prior to winning both of their opening group games against Universidad Catolica and Gremio, meaning a win on Friday would put them all but into the last 16.

Back to back domestic wins over Nacional and Cerro Porteno has confidence extremely high in Libertad ranks coming into the clash and given how strong they are as hosts, Libertad will be assured in their ability to get the job done on Friday. Indeed, they’ve won 5 of their last 7 Libertadores home games, as well as 3 of their last 4 games in front of the home crowd.

Meanwhile, Rosario Central weren’t expected to pull up many trees in the group and haven’t got off to a great start, first drawing at home to Gremio prior to losing away at Universidad Catolica. That has the Argentines arriving somewhat desperate for a result here but they don’t take to the pitch in great shape.

Indeed, Central are only in the competition courtesy of their Copa Argentina win and they’ve not looked a force in regular league action, currently sitting 18th in the Superliga Argentina. They’ve won just 1 of their 13 competitive matches in 2019 and having also lost 6 of their last 9 away games, confidence simply cannot be high prior to arrival on Paraguayan soil.

Ultimately, there can be absolutely no doubting who the favourites are in this clash and Libertad will be fully expecting to win the match. They’re in by far the better shape of the two, have home advantage and have already beaten numerous teams of greater quality than the visitors.

As such, we’re more than happy to back a home win and it looks the best way to play as far as the betting goes. Libertad have scored an average of 2.42 goals per game over their last 7 Libertadores home matches and we envisage them scoring multiple goals once again in this match, with a 2-0 margin of home win on the cards. Central have never looked in the right condition to contest South America’s top competition and that doesn’t look like changing here.