Real Garcilaso vs Deportivo La Guaira Predictions

Tuesday’s Copa Libertadores first qualification round, second leg action sees Peruvians Real Garcilaso doing battle with Venezuelans Deportivo Guaira. The hosts will be looking to overturn the 1-0 defeat they suffered in last week.

As disappointing coming into the game trailing is, the fact Garcilaso find themselves just a goal behind means it’s all still to play for, particularly given the big advantage they hold when playing on home turf. With the Estadio Garcilaso located a huge 3,400 metres above sea level, the hosts benefit from playing in gruelling conditions only they are accustomed to when hosting foreign outfits.

Indeed, although they finished bottom of their Libertadores group last season, Garcilaso collected 5 home points on home soil, failing to concede a single goal during a 2-0 win over Santos and draws with Estudiantes and Nacional respectively. Having also lost just 1 of their last 16 home games, winning 9 times in the process, it’s clear that La Maquina Celeste are a real home force and confidence will be high going into Tuesday’s game as a result.

Meanwhile, while Deportivo La Guaira will be happy to have won their debut Copa Libertadores match last week, they arrive knowing they’ve still left themselves with a huge amount of work to do if they are to be the side facing Atletico Nacional in the next qualification round.

Los Naranjas were only formed in 2008 and have very little continental experience and now tasked with hanging onto a slender lead in such a draining environment, a tough evening looks to be in store for them. Having failed to score in their last 3 away games, losing twice in the process, Deportivo haven’t impressed on the road in recent trips and will need to significantly improve in this one if they’re to have any chance of progressing.

Ultimately, one cannot underestimate the importance of the altitude factor in this second leg and Garcilaso arrive as huge favourites on the night as a result of it. Whoever advances to next round is unlikely to any further given the quality of opponent that awaits, but that won’t stop either giving everything to claim victory in this tie.

As far as the betting goes, Garcilaso are rightfully priced at very short odds, but good value can still be found in backing them to win to nil. They kept out far stronger opponents than Deportivo in the Libertadores last season whilst at home and with the visitors set to bring an extremely defensive gameplan, we fancy the hosts to level the scores on aggregate and force penalties via a 1-0 margin of victory.