LC - Football - South America - Libertadores Cup

First round leg of the 2019 Libertadores Cup Semifinal. Gremio de Porto Alegre will play host to Flamengo in the Arena do Grêmio.

Gremio
Gremio arrived to this stage after eliminating Palmerias, in that two legged series, Gremio lost at home, only defeat in last five Libertadores matches at home, which force them to win at away. Where the team started down 1-0 in the score, but quickly with goals from Everton and Alisson, Gremio won 1-2 to advanced thanks to away goals scored.

In the last five matches in Serie A, Gremio had won four, at home against Goias y Avai, and away against Cruzeiro and Santos, clearly a team in form. Just lost the last match against Fulminense a 2-1 defeat, in which clearly they where already thinking on this important fixture. A team that at home has three matches winning after a double header against Palmerias in which they where unable to win, which saw a 10 matches without defeat broken. A team that has scored in 14 of the last 15 matches at home, just need a good night for their defense to take the lead in this semifinal.

Flamengo
Meanwhile Flamengo arrtives to this stage after defeating Internacional, having won at home 2-0, in the second leg Internacional was able to take the lead 1-0 and only needing one goal for extra times, yet five minutes to the end Flamengo scored via Gabriel Barbosa. In that moment Internacional needed to score three more goals to proceed, yet the scoreline did not moved and Flamengo moved to the semifinal.

Flamengo arrives in top form with a streak of 11 matches without defeat, and currently five away matches without losing, their last match was an scoreless draw in Seria A against Sao Paulo at home . Having score in every one of those five away matches after two matches unable to do so. The issue is that in the last five away Libertadores Cup matches, they only won against San Jose from Bolivia, accumulating two draws, Peñarol and Internacional, and two defeats, LDU Quito and Emelec.

Match
This is a fixture clearly dominated by whichever team plays at home, as in the last 10 matches between them, 8 have been victories for the home side, with one draw and one away win. Only considering matches palyed in Arena Do Gremio, in 10 matches Gremio has obtained, seven wins and three draws without losing against Flamengo. An intense match, with two attacking teams that might see plenty of scoring chances.

Prediction
An intense match, fit for a seminal of Libertadores Cup. A level match where the home side has the edge slightly, being at home, having ease scoring and just in need of their defense holding. Flamengo arrives in great shape, but their away performance in Libertadores could be a heavy ballast, one that their recent away form could compensate, but the value lies with the home side.

02/10/2019 23:48, read 1334 times