Always Ready vs LDU Quito

There’s a mountain to climb for Club Always Ready as they bid to overhaul a 3-0 deficit in the return leg of their Copa Sudamericana playoff tie against LDU Quito at the Estadio Municipal de El Alto.

Club Always Ready’s near-flawless five-game run in this season’s Copa Sudamericana group stages (W3, D2) ended at the hands of Independiente Medellin (0-4), which condemned them to this high-profile knockout tie. Their chances of reaching the quarter-finals are almost dead in the water following a first-leg fiasco in Quito, but it’s only the tip of the iceberg. Flabio Torres’ men have drawn a blank in four of their last five competitive outings, casting significant doubt on their hopes of netting three to take this tie to extra time. There’s a silver lining for Always Ready, though. They won all three home outings in this season’s Copa Sudamericana by an aggregate score of 7-0, though two of those three wins ended 2-0, which would see them fall agonizingly short of a heralded three-goal mark.

In the meantime, LDU Quito’s emphatic first-leg triumph bookended their rip-roaring four-game unbeaten run (W3, D1), with the Ecuadorians setting one foot in the Copa Sudamericana quarter-finals ahead of this trip. The visitors will relish a substantial lead going into this journey, knowing they’ve gone winless on their last four competitive travels (D2, L2), three of which saw them concede precisely two goals. Quito’s away form on the continental front has been wasteful in 2024, with Vitamina Sanchez’s team failing to win all three road games in this season’s Copa Libertadores group stages (D1, L2) despite scoring in the first half on each occasion.