Copa Libertadores 2012, Round Of 16: Two Ties Begin Wednesday

Most of the Round of 16 ties in the 2012 Copa Libertadores don’t kick off for another week, but two of them get underway on Wednesday. Three of the five Brazilian sides that have advanced are in action. One tie is a Brazilian-on-Brazilian clash, while the other features Neymar and Ganso leading their team into La Paz.

Wednesday, 8:50 p.m. ET

Santos FC are favorites to progress in this tie, but they’ll need to limit the damage they suffer on Wednesday to take a decent aggregate score back home. They played another Bolivian side, The Strongest, in the group stage of the competition and lost in La Paz. The altitude is difficult for road teams to deal with and traveling sides with superior talent aren’t ever necessarily expected to win away in Bolivia. A scoring draw would be a great result for Santos. They have no serious fitness problems to note and they’re expected to play all of their stars, including Neymar and Ganso.

Wednesday, 8:50 p.m. ET

Internacional did not rest any of their stars at the weekend, and that decision came back to bite them. Playmaker Andres D’Alessandro picked up an injury against Veranopolis and will not play in either leg of this tie. Youngster Elton or veteran Tinga could take his place in the lineup. Fluminense suffered a big injury in their last match too, losing young star attacker Wellington against Arsenal de Sarandi. He was replaced in that game by Rafael Sobis, who is likely to join Deco and Thiago Neves in the starting XI in support of Fred.

The big matchup to watch will be between Inter’s star striker Leandro Damiao and the Fluminense defense. Flu’s defensive record is spectacular this season in both the Copa Libertadores and Campeonato Carioca, but Damiao has made less accomplished defenders than Gum and Anderson look poor.