Atletico Paranaense vs Cerro Porteno Prediction: Paranaense are the favorites to qualify for the next round

As the Copa Sudamericana continues to heat up, Atletico Paranaense and Cerro Porteno will square off at the Arena Ligga on Friday for the return leg of their round of 16 encounter. Their first-leg encounter last week ended in a 1-1 draw with both teams missing a penalty from the spot. Just like the first-leg encounter, expect a very offensive game here with the possibility of both teams finding the net at an all-time high. Please see the carefully prepared tips. 

The Brazilian sensation has won two and lost three of their last five league games, they also lost to Bragantino in their most recent league game. In the first-leg encounter against Cerro Porteno, they came back from a goal down to draw the game all thanks to Christian’s 69th minute goal. Fernandinho lost the chance to give Paranaense the lead as he failed to convert a penalty from the spot in the 79th minute of the game. Paranaense are not in their best form but they hold the home advantage ahead of Friday’s encounter. 

Cerro Porteno got the first goal in their first leg encounter against Atletico Paranaense last week and Diego Chiron also failed to extend their lead in the late minutes of the first half after he failed to convert from the penalty spot in. Cerro Porteno will strive for the win on Friday and we anticipate an offensive encounter.

A critical look at their last three encounters produced a win for each team and a draw.

Atlético Paranaense eliminated Cerro Porteno in the Copa Libertadores playoffs in 2005 and we might see the same result here as Paranaense seems to be in a better form compared to their opponents Cerro Porteno. Atletico Paranaense had over 5 shots on target in that game but they were not entirely prolific in front of goal. We see a major shift in the outcome of this game and it’s a win or draw and a total of over 1.5 goals for the hosts. 

The first leg also produced a total of 12 corners due to the highly offensive nature of the game. We envisage a similar outcome and we lean towards a total of 8 corners in the game.