Kenley Ward
Dailysports's expert
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On July 14, Estadio Tigo La Huerta (Asunción) will host the first leg of the 1/8 finals of the Copa Sudamericana, in which Libertad will compete with Tigre. The battle will start at 00:00 CET.
Libertad
The club was founded in 1905 and became the champion of Paraguay for the first time in 5 years. Speaking about the recent seasons, from 2021 until the current cycle, “Los Repolleros” continued to take titles in the Apertura, bringing the total number of the golden medals to significant 23. The players reached the semi-finals of the Copa Libertadores twice. Still, it didn’t happen again. “Gumarelo” got 7 points in the group this time – the team won and took a draw in the battles against Atletico Mineiro, exchanged away victories with Alianza Lima, but lost both matches to Atletico Paranaense. As a result, Óscar Cardozo (it is reasonable to mention that the 40-year-old Benfica legend is still playing!) took the 3rd place in such a quartet and moved to the play-offs of another tournament, the Copa Sudamericana.
Tigre
The team as a whole was far from demonstrating bright performance. In this regard, the past decade was successful: it repeated the maximum result in 2012 (in the form of a vice-champion, and reached the final of the Copa Sudamericana. It was possible to take the trophy in 2019 – the Argentina Copa de la Superliga. Then there was a departure from the Primera and a return to the second division of the country in 2021. The newcomer, mostly due to the performance of Retegui, who scored 2 dozen goals, was able to climb to the 7th place in the previous Primera – the higher mentioned achievements allowed the team to return to the Copa Sudamericana. There, the club, which had gradually fallen at the inner arena, demonstrated a great dignity. It did not take a single point in the battle with Sao Paulo, but the matches with other opponents, Puerto Cabello Academy and Deportes Tolima, resulted in 10 out of 12 points, which allowed reaching the play-offs.
The statistics of head-to-head matches
The opponents played exactly 10 years ago. Then, being at the group stage of the Copa Libertadores, they exchanged non-minimal guest victories.
Predictions
Bookmakers are loyal to Libertad. At the same time, it is unlikely that the game will be spectacular – thus, we bet on “total: under 2.5” (odd: 1.83).
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