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Steffen Schmidt - August 1, 2023
Botafogo vs Guarani
CONMEBOL Copa Sudamericana
Date: 2 August 2023, Wednesday
Kick-off at 23:00 UK / 00:00 CET
Venue: Estadio Nilton Santos (Rio de Janeiro).
Botafogo will be looking to translate their extraordinary domestic form into the continental competition on Wednesday evening when they host Paraguayan Guarani in the first leg of the Copa Sudamericana last 16 round at Estadio Nilton Santos.
Fogo are enjoying some of the best days of their history this season. They are on a spectacular Serie A campaign with 14 wins in the opening 17 outings.
This brilliant record keeps them 12 points clear at the top of the Brazilian Serie A standings at the moment.
The hosts have continued from where they stopped after the sudden departure of head coach Luis Castro (signed by Al Nassr) less than a month ago.
His replacement Bruno Lage managed to eliminate Patronato 3-1 on aggregate in the Copa Sudamericana knockout phase playoffs, courtesy of a 0-2 win on Argentine soil.
He has also celebrated two home wins in Serie A as Botafogo scored six goals in the process. Four of these six came at the weekend in the thrashing of Coritiba (4-1) in Rio de Janeiro.
Guarani, on the other side, made it to the Copa Sudamericana knockout phase for the first time in their history.
They have done so by topping Group B with 11 points in 6 outings. Interestingly, the Paraguayan outfit have also made a recent managerial change, appointing Juan Pablo Pumpido as the new head coach in June this year.
The team play tight football under Pumpido as Guarani allowed one or fewer goals in four of their last five matches across competitions.
Botafogo look unstoppable at the moment. They own the best defensive record in the Brazilian Serie A with only 10 goals shipped in 17 outings this season. Knowing they’ve also bagged two or more goals in six of the last seven games in all competitions, we fancy their comprehensive win on Wednesday.
You can back the hosts to win by two or more goals difference at the 2.05 odds while their win to nil is priced at the 2.00 odds.
