Fluminense and Gremio square off at the Maracanã Stadium in the second leg of their Copa Libertadores round-of-16 clash on Tuesday. With elimination staring them in the face, Mano Menezes’ men will need no extra motivation to produce a positive showing following their first-leg defeat.
Fluminense failed to pull clear of the danger zone in the Brasileiro Serie A as they were held to a goalless draw by Corinthians on home turf last Saturday.
Menezes’ side have now picked up 21 points from 22 games to sit 18th in the table, one point and two places behind Corinthians just outside the relegation zone.
While Fluminense have endured a difficult campaign back home, they now turn their sights to the Copa Libertadores, where they finished as Group A winners before falling to a 2-1 loss against Brazilian rivals Gremio in the first leg of the round of 16 last Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Gremio were sent crashing back to earth in the push into the top half of the Serie A table as they suffered a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Bahia on Saturday.
Prior to that, Renato Portaluppi’s men were on a five-game unbeaten run in the league, picking up four wins and one draw while scoring 10 goals and keeping three clean sheets.
Gremio now return to action in the Copa Libertadores, where they have won their last two away matches and will be looking to pick up where they left off in last week’s reverse leg.
Fluminense vs Gremio Head-To-Head and Key Numbers
- With 25 wins from the last 50 meetings between the sides, Gremio boast a clear upper hand in the history of this fixture.
- Fluminense have picked up 12 wins in that time, while the spoils have been shared on 13 occasions.
- Gremio are on a run of eight consecutive wins against Menezes’ men, scoring 12 goals and keeping five clean sheets since a 2-1 defeat in September 2019.
- Fluminense are unbeaten in their last five home games across all competitions, picking up two wins and three draws since June’s 1-0 loss against Vitoria.
- Gremio have gone four back-to-back away matches without defeat, claiming two wins and two draws since a 1-0 defeat against Sao Paulo on July 18.
Fluminense vs Gremio Prediction
With their Copa Sudamericana dreams at risk, we expect Fluminense to go all out on Tuesday as they look to overturn their first-leg deficit.
However, given Gremio’s dominance in this fixture, we predict they will hold out for a share of the spoils and win the tie on aggregate.
Prediction: Fluminense 2-2 Gremio
Fluminense vs Gremio Betting Tips
Tip 1: Result - Draw
Tip 2: Over 4.5 cards - Yes (There have been at least five bookings in five of the last six meetings between the teams)
Tip 3: Over 10.5 corners - No (There have also been fewer than 11 corner kicks in eight of their last nine encounters)