Botafogo (Brazil) vs Patronato (Argentina)
Botafogo FR found it easy to beat Patronato 2-0 on away turf last Wednesday. Through goals from Carlos Alberto and Janderson, the team took a big step towards the Copa Sudamericana round-of-16: they will advance even losing by a one-goal margin in the return leg. On Saturday, O Fogao won 2-0 at home over Red Bull Bragantino to stay as solid leaders in the Brazilian league table: they accumulated 39 points in 15 matches, 12 above second-placed Flamengo. Botafogo are on nine matches unbeaten in all competitions, having won seven and drawn two. At home, they haven’t lost any of their last 16 in regular time, with 14 victories and two stalemates since losing to Portuguesa RJ 1-0 in March.
Meanwhile, Patronato have a mountain to climb in order to advance to the round of 16. Their 2-0 home defeat to Botafogo last week means the team need to win via a two-goal margin in Brazil to keep their hope alive. Last Saturday, Rodolfo De Paoli’s men won 1-0 at home over Gimnasia Mendoza to climb into 11th spot of the Argentine second-tier group A on 31 points in 24 matches, trailing the last playoff berth by four. El Patron stopped a two-game losing streak in all competitions. On away turf, Patronato lost six of their last eight games, along with one victory and one draw.
Can’t imagine how is this poor 2nd division team going to hold against the brazilian leaders of their local league who have been super strong at home, sooner than later they will have to take risks to try to recover from last week’s 0-2 defeat and this should give the hosts the chance to get an easy win.