Atletico Mineiro vs San Lorenzo

MRV Arena sets the stage for the return leg of an evenly-poised Copa Libertadores last-16 tie between Atletico Mineiro and San Lorenzo.

While a repeat of last season’s third-place finish in the Campeonato Brasileiro Serie A looks far-fetched amid a three-game winless league run (D2, L1), Atletico-MG’s quest to cover themselves in continental glory for the first time since 2013 is well underway. After a dominant group-stage campaign (W5, L1), Gabriel Milito’s side hauled back a halftime deficit to draw 1-1 in Buenos Aires to bolster their hopes of reaching the quarter-finals. However, the hosts can’t afford to get too comfortable after only winning once across their last six competitive outings (D4, L1), especially considering four saw them score under 1.5 goals. Things look far more promising on home turf, where they had won four consecutive matches in all competitions before drawing 1-1 with Cuiaba last time out.

In the meantime, San Lorenzo can consider themselves lucky for walking away with a draw in the first leg, considering they lamented just 29% ball possession and attempted only two shots on target. Leandro Romagnoli’s lads followed that result with a morale-wracking 3-2 defeat at Boca Juniors over the weekend, maintaining a dreadful ten-game Primeira Division start (W1, D4, L5). A lack of firepower up front has plagued San Lorenzo in the early goings, with Los Santos averaging just 0.7 goals per game in the first ten Primeira Liga rounds. They must vastly improve in attack to reinforce their hopes of lifting their first Copa Libertadores title since 2014. But they can draw confidence from going unbeaten in all three previous encounters against Atletico-MG (W1, D2).