Venezuelan outfit Deportivo Tachira and Paraguayan side Olimpia lock horns in San Cristobal on Tuesday, in the first game of the Copa Libertadores group stage.
The visitors have lifted the trophy on three separate occasions, most recently in 2002, while the hosts are yet to add the continental title to their trophy cabinet.
Match preview
Deportivo Tachira qualified for the Copa Libertadores after they reached the final of the Venezuelan Primera Division last season.
In that game, Juan Tolisano's side fell to a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Deportivo La Guaiara, as Martin Garcia and Charlis Ortiz got on the scoresheet either side of half time.
While that prevented the Aurinegro lifting a ninth Venezuelan title, they did still secure safe passage to the South American competition for the first time since 2017.
Tolisano's side got off to a winning start in this year's iteration of the Venezuelan top flight last time out, as goals from Lucas Gomez and Nelson Belorin fired them to a 2-1 victory at home to Madeira Club Lara, after the visitors took an early lead.
The Aurinegro will now turn their attention to the Copa Libertadores, as they look to get off to a positive start in their group.
They take on an Olimpia outfit who have lifted the title on three occasions, and have reached the final a further four times.
The visitors qualified for the Copa Libertadores thanks to a victory in the final of the 2020 Paraguayan Primera Division Clausura.
In that final, Sergio Orteman's side trailed 2-0 to Guarani, until goals from Jorge Recalde and Alejandro Gonzalez took the game to extra time and a penalty shootout, with Braian Rodriguez scoring the winning spot kick to seal a 45th domestic trophy for his side.
They come into this game on the back of a 2-1 victory over Guairena, as Gonzalez netted a brace after Alex Mendez put the hosts ahead inside the first five minutes.
That maintained their position in second spot in the Paraguayan Primera Division Apertura table, while they will now focus on the Copa Libertadores with a chance to kickstart their continental campaign with a victory.
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Team News
The Deportivo Tachira line will be led by Lucas Gomez, who opened his account for the season with an important goal last time out.
Lucas Trejo and Carlos Vivas are expected to partner up again at centre-back, after they played at the heart of the defence in the first game of the season.
Olimpia centre-back Antolin Alcaraz will return to the squad, after he served a suspension last time out.
He is expected to reform the familiar centre-back pairing alongside Saul Salcedo.
Alejandro Gonzalez will come into this game with confidence, having netted a brace last time out.
Deportivo Tachira possible starting lineup:
Varela; Hernandez, Trejo, Vivas, Granados; Gondola, Flores, Zalzman, Chacon; Gomez, Greco
Olimpia possible starting lineup:
Aguilar; Benitez, Alcaraz, Salcedo, Torres; Gomez, Escobar, Ortiz, Acosta; Pitta, Recalde
We say: Deportivo Tachira 0-2 Olimpia
Olimpia's advantage in quality and experience should see them to a victory in their opening Copa Libertadores game on Tuesday.
While they did win last time out, the hosts have played very little football recently, while the Paraguayan outfit find themselves half way through the season, and their extra momentum and match sharpness could make a major difference.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Deportivo Tachira win with a probability of 48.36%. A draw had a probability of 25.9% and a win for Olimpia had a probability of 25.76%.
The most likely scoreline for a Deportivo Tachira win was 1-0 with a probability of 11.98%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.25%) and 2-0 (9.03%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (12.28%), while for a Olimpia win it was 0-1 (8.15%). The actual scoreline of 3-2 was predicted with a 2.4% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Deportivo Tachira would win this match.
