Atletico Nacional vs Bolivar
South America – Copa Libertadores
Date: Wednesday, 25 April 2018
Kick-Off at 01:30 UK
Venue: Estadio Atanasio Girardot (Medellin).
Atletico Nacional ruined the perfect start to the Copa Libertadores group stage campaign by falling 1-0 to Bolivar away from home earlier this month. They still holed the very top of the group 2 standings with six points in three matches, but another failure against the same opposition here would significantly compromise their chances of advancing through to the knockout stage.
The 2016 champions are generally enjoying a fine spell of form this season. They look to be cruising their way towards the title in the Colombian Primera A being three points clear off Tolima in second with two games in hand on them after 15 rounds of the competition. Their defensive line proved out to be super tough to break down in Copa Libertadores where the team shipped just one goal in opening three ties.
Bolivar are yet to suffer a defeat in this term of the competition. They drew back-to-back affairs with Colo-Colo and Delfin before shocking Atletico Nacional last time out.
Atletico Nacional vs Bolivar: Head-to-head
The two sides played each other in the second round of Copa Sudamericana back in the 2016/17 campaign when Atletico Nacional advanced 2-1 on aggregate.
None of three previous head to head meetings offered three or more goals.
It was Marcos Riquelme who bagged the match-winner when the two teams met in early-April in the third round. Reinaldo Lenis missed the late stoppage-time penalty for Los Verdolagas.
Atletico Nacional vs Bolivar: Prediction
Bolivar suffered a tough 4-1 defeat in the domestic league at the weekend. They are now five points shy of Wilstermann at the top of the Bolivian Primera Division standings. La Academia actually won just one of last seven games on the road across competitions.
Given the Bolivians will be up against a highly-motivated opponent who have been impeccable in front of the home fans lately, we can’t expect anything else but the home win here. Jorge Almiron’s troops won nine consecutive matches in front of the home crowd without conceding a single goal in the process. The main betting option will thus be Atletico Nacional to keep a clean sheet at the 1.75 odds.
Since Bolivar’s defensive line showed plenty of holes in the mentioned 4-1 loss to Guabira at the weekend, we will alternatively go with Atletico Nacional to win by two or more goals difference at the odds of 1.85.
Atletico Nacional vs Bolivar: Bet Tips
Atletico Nacional to keep a clean sheet @ 1.75
Atletico Nacional -1.5 handicap @ 1.85
