FBC Melgar are out of chances to advance to the Copa Libertadores round-of-16 following their 0-1 home defeat to Colombia’s Atletico Nacional in week four. As a result, El Domino are bottom in group H with a single point and will fight for a spot in the Copa Sudamericana playoff: they are now trailing third-placed Patronato by two. Their last game was a 2-2 home draw against Cesar Vallejo, which places them in 11th place of the Peruvian league table on 22 points in 17 matches. Melgar lost only one of their last four competitive matches, winning two and drawing one. At home, they claimed a single victory across the last four, drawing one and losing two.
Patronato put up a good fight against Olimpia in their last Copa Libertadores’ game, playing as hosts at Colon, but they ended up losing 2-0. Therefore, the team are virtually out of the fight for a ticket to the round-of-16, accumulating only three points in third spot, trailing their last opponents (who are sitting in second) by five. Last Saturday, El Patron also lost 2-1 away at Agropecuario, which represented their third defeat across the last four matches in all competition (along with a single win). Patronato are sitting into 11th spot of the Argentine second tier’s group A on 21 points in 19 matches, just two above bottom-placed Flandria. Furthermore, they also are on three away defeats in a row.
This game is key for these two teams that are fighting for the 3d place of the group that would send them to Copa Sudamericana, Melgar has no option to get a win so I expect an open game like they’ve both played so far in this competition (Patronato won 4-1 in the reversed fixture).