Union La Calera and Velez Sarsfield prepare to lock horns on Tuesday, with both sides looking to record their first victory of the Copa Libertadores group stage.
The hosts kicked off their campaign with a 2-2 draw against LDU Quito but have since suffered a 4-1 defeat at the hands of Flamengo, while the Argentinian outfit have lost both of their first two games to Flamengo and LDU Quito.
Match preview
© Reuters
Union La Calera were somewhat disappointed to be held to a point in the opening game of the group stage, when they welcomed Ecuadorian outfit LDU Quito to Chile.
The hosts took the lead on two separate occasions through an Andres Vilches brace, but Billy Arce netted a double of his own for the visitors, scoring the equaliser in the 83rd minute to force Luca Marcogiuseppe's side to share the points.
While that was not overly devastating, their recent result away at Flamengo did provide much more cause for concern, as they fell to a 4-1 defeat in Brazil.
Sebastian Saez pulled a goal back for Union La Calera to make it 2-1 after goals from Gabriel Barbosa and Giorgian De Arrascaeta put the hosts ahead, but a second Barbosa goal and a late Pedro effort quickly restored their comfortable lead and sealed an eye-catching 4-1 victory for the Brazilian outfit.
They will now look to put those results behind them and put their first group win on the board, as Marcogiuseppe's men aim to improve their chances of qualifying for the round of 16.
They take on a Velez Sarsfield side who are yet to pick up a point in the group stage, having lost their opening two games in South America's elite competition.
The visitors suffered a narrow 3-2 defeat in their opening game, as they hosted Flamengo.
Velez Sarsfield took the lead on two separate occasions through a Lucas Janson brace, but goals from Willian Arao and Barbosa levelled the game before Giorgian de Arrascaeta netted the winner in the 80th minute.
They then travelled to LDU Quito hoping to build on a somewhat positive performance in the opening game but suffered a disappointing 3-1 defeat in Ecuador.
Cristian Martinez Borja opened the scoring for the hosts, but Pablo Galdames equalised for Mauricio Pellegrino's side, before goals from a second Borja strike and a Matias Zunino goal condemned them to a second group defeat.
They will be desperate to record their first victory of the group stage on Saturday, as they look to pull themselves back into contention for spots in the top two.
- D
- L
- W
- D
- D
- L
- L
- W
- L
- L
- L
- W
- L
- W
- L
- W
Team News
© Reuters
The Union La Calera line will be led by Andres Vilches, who netted a brace in their opening draw with LDU Quito.
Sebastian Saez, Matias Cavalleri and Octavio Rivero will all be battling for a starting spot alongside Vilches, while Jeisson Vargas should return to the side to offer attacking threat from midfield.
Meanwhile, Erick Wiemberg, Gonzalo Castellani and Esteban Valencia should line up in a familiar midfield three, shielding Union La Calera's back line.
Velez Sarsfield will be boosted by the return of midfielder Federico Mancuello to the squad after he served a suspension in the last Copa Libertadores game, but he may continue his spell on the bench after a short substitute appearance in the first game prior to his red card.
Lucas Janson will lead their attack, having netted a brace in the opening game at home to Flamengo.
At the other end of the pitch, Pellegrino is expected to stick with a back three, with Matias De los Santos, Luis Abram and Miguel Brizuela lining up at the back.
Union La Calera possible starting lineup:
Arias; Ramirez, C Vilches, Garcia, Oyanedel; Valencia, Castellani, Wiemberg; Vargas; A Vilches, Saez
Velez Sarsfield possible starting lineup:
Hoyos; De Los Santos, Abram, Brizuela; Guidara, Galdames, Caseres, Ortega; Almada, Lucero, Janson
We say: Union La Calera 2-2 Velez Sarsfield
With both sides desperate to avoid another defeat, we see this game ending as a draw on Tuesday.
Both sides possess the attacking quality to cause the other team problems, while struggling at the back, potentially making this an end-to-end encounter.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Velez Sarsfield win with a probability of 40.01%. A win for Union La Calera had a probability of 32.97% and a draw had a probability of 27%.
The most likely scoreline for a Velez Sarsfield win was 0-1 with a probability of 10.98%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (8.43%) and 0-2 (7.22%). The likeliest Union La Calera win was 1-0 (9.75%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.82%). The actual scoreline of 0-2 was predicted with a 7.2% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Velez Sarsfield would win this match.
