Vélez have a chance to settle the score

Club Atlético Vélez Sarsfield host Liga Deportiva Universitaria de Quito on Tuesday in the Copa Libertadores, with one match left in the league phase. Vélez lead the four-team group on nine points, three ahead of their visitors, who sit fourth on six.

The sides have already met once. On 11 March, Liga Deportiva Universitaria de Quito won 1-0 at home, one of three league-phase defeats they have suffered. Their form has since offered both encouragement and warning: two wins in a row were followed by two losses.

Ignacio Suárez, expected on the right of Vélez’s attack, is among the home side’s sharpest threats: one goal and two assists in his latest five games, with four clear-cut chances created. Franco Ramírez has scored twice in his latest four appearances. But Vélez’s expected side comes with weary legs. Diego Gómez is particularly jaded, while Ramírez, Matías Castro, Esteban Di Diego and Daniel Castillo are also short of freshness.

Left-back Gustavo Faúndez is out with a damaged achilles tendon and is not expected back until about 15 October; centre-back Daniel Pérez has pulled knee ligaments. Quito’s injured players are not specified, so the familiar result from March carries more weight than any guess about their availability.

For Vélez, Tuesday is a chance to turn recovery into control of the group. For Quito, who have lost three of five, it is a last opportunity to overturn the gap and leave their hosts with an uncomfortable memory of the first meeting.