Emelec advanced to the Copa Libertadores’ round-of-16 after their surprising 2-1 away win at Cruzeiro in the last group matchday under interim boss Bolivar Vera. Last Friday, coach Ismael Rescalvo rotated his players and the team lost 1-0 at home to Deportivo Cuenca, which stopped a two-game winning run. El Bombillo is producing an irregular campaign so far, sitting in the seventh spot of the Ecuadorian league table. They also are inconsistent when playing as hosts: Emelec won two, drew one and lost two of the last five games.
Flamengo earned the point they needed to win their group thanks to the goal difference after drawing 0-0 at Penarol in May. Since then, the team played 12 competitive matches and suffered a single defeat in that spell (seven victories, four draws in regular time). On Sunday, they settled for a 1-1 stalemate at Corinthians that keeps them in third place of the league table, five points behind leaders Palmeiras and Santos. Flamengo also is on four away matches unbeaten, having won one of them.
I think Flamengo should be too strong for Emelec and they’ve been preparing during the offseason to win this tournament.
BET: Flamengo -0.25 @ 1.94