Atletico Mineiro are in the driver’s seat heading into the second leg of their season Copa Libertadores Semi-final draw with River Platewhich takes place on Tuesday at the Estadio Mas Monumental.

In the first leg between these two last week, Mineiro won 3-0, giving them a decisive lead over Belgrano.

Game preview

© Imago

After a disastrous trip to Belo Horizonte last week, Marcelo Gallardo and his River Plate side face a daunting task in the second stage.

This was the first defeat they suffered against the Libertadores this year and the first time they failed to score in the competition this season.

They find themselves in a similar situation to 2020, when they lost their first semi-final game against Palmeiras 3-0, but won the second game in Brazil 2-0.

Coming into this game, River Plate are winless in five consecutive games across all competitions and have failed to score in four.

The Argentinians have a 100 percent home record in the competition this year, conceding just one goal in five games in Belgrano.

Los Millonarios have not lost a home game against Brazilian opponents in this tournament since 2021, when they lost 3-1 to Fluminense in the group stage.

© Imago

After a strong start, Atletico Mineiro are close to reaching the Libertadores final for the first time since winning the trophy in 2013.

Gabriel MilitoBarcelona’s men are winless in three away games in the competition and lost their quarter-final away game at the Libertadores 1-0 to Fluminense this year.

Mineiro have never been eliminated from Libertadores by winning the first leg, although they have never won an away game in the semi-finals of this tournament.

Over the weekend, Galo enjoyed a six-match unbeaten run in all competitions, which ended with a 3-1 home defeat against Internacional.

They have not lost in their last 12 competitive games since a 4-2 defeat to Flamengo in July, despite scoring multiple goals over 90 minutes.

Galo has won four of his five all-time Libertadores duels against River Plate and has not conceded a goal in any of those triumphs, including a 1-0 win at Mas Monumental in the 2021 quarterfinals.

River Plate Copa Libertadores form:

River Plate form (all competitions):

Atletico Mineiro Copa Libertadores Form:

Atlético Mineiro form (all competitions):

Team news

© Imago

A shoulder problem was prevented Rodrigo Aliendro of playing for River Plate in the first leg of this tie, Agustin Sant’Anna had to take a break with a sore knee and Marcos Acuna was unavailable due to a hamstring injury.

Three new faces who were not in the starting XI for the quarter-final second leg were in the starting XI for the opening game of this encounter: Paulo Diaz, Enzo Diaz And Nicolas Fonseca replaced Acuna, Matias Kranevitter And Maximiliano Meza.

Two players are questionable for Atletico Mineiro on Tuesday Bernard And Cadu They are still recovering from knee injuries and are not expected to return until late November.

A bracket of Deyverson helped Galo win the first leg and they scored the other goal Paulinhowhile Everson only had to make one stop to score the goal.

Possible River Plate starting lineup:
Armani; Bustos, P. Diaz, Pezzella, Gonzalez-Pirez; Simon, Kranevitter, Fernandez; Bareiro, Borja, Colidio

Possible starting line-up for Atlético Mineiro:
Everson; Lyanco, Battaglia, Alonso; Scarpa, Otavio, Franco, Arana; Hulk, Paulinho; Deyverson

We say: River Plate 2-1 Atletico Mineiro (Atletico Mineiro advances 4-2 on aggregate)

For a team as consistent and strong as Mineiro, losing by three goals would be a stretch and although River Plate have plenty of firepower, we don’t think it will be enough to turn this tie in their favour.

For data analysis of the most likely outcomes, scores and more for this game, please click here.

Previews via email