Universidad Catolica vs FBC Melgar Predictions

Tuesday’s Copa Sudamericana second round, first leg action sees Ecuadorians Universidad Catolica del Ecuador doing battle with Peruvians FBC Melgar. The hosts will be looking to establish an advantage to take with them into the second leg.

It’s fair to say Universidad Catolica looked like they’d be facing an uphill battle when they were drawn against Chilean giants Colo Colo in the first round of the competition, but the Ecuadorians more than stepped up to the plate, managing to cause a big upset by knocking them out on penalties. Having jumped that hurdle, the side will be looking to now go another round further by winning what looks an easier tie overall.

Catolica’s first round success is just a part of what is turning into a good year for the side overall, with the team in good form and recording strong results. Indeed, Catolica are currently 4th in the Ecuadorian top flight and confidence is extremely high coming into Tuesday’s game, given they’ve now won 5 of their last 6 games in impressive fashion.

Meanwhile, Melgar’s year certainly isn’t going to plan, given they are in the Sudamericana due to being eliminated from the Libertadores and they also find themselves in a poor 13th place in the Peruvian top flight. The visitors cannot seem to generate any kind of momentum and don’t travel to Ecuador in a positive spirit.

Indeed, Melgar’s prospects only look all the more bleak when you take into account their continental away record, which is a huge worry coming into this game. The Peruvians are consistently weak on the road in continental action, losing 11 of their last 14 trips and said sequence only looks like getting worse on Tuesday.

Ultimately, you have to fancy Universidad Catolica to win the game and the tie overall. They are in better shape than Melgar, are stronger than them on paper and will be hungry to surge into the lead in this first leg.

All things considered, we’re more than happy to back the hosts winning the game and like the look of combining that with them keeping a clean sheet. They’ve won 6 of their last 7 home games and having kept clean sheets in the latter 3 of said games, they should be able to keep a Melgar side out that has failed to score in 10 of their last 14 continental; with a 2-0 margin of home victory on the cards.