Peruvian league winners clash in major rivalry

Club Universitario de Deportes and Sporting Cristal have dominated Peruvian football together with Alianza Lima, claiming most of the league championships. These three teams are all major rivals and all encounters with any two of the three is considered a major derby and a big event in Peruvian football.

These teams are located so close to each other that their supporters eat in the same restaurants, hang out at the same night clubs and give birth at the same hospitals. This means added importance to the game and a vibrant atmosphere.

It’s a hectic schedule for the away team, as they were in action only four days ago in the Copa Libertadores.

Universitario form and stats

The home supporters can't complain about results here at Estadio Monumental as Universitario have scored 14 goals to get 14 points from 7 games. The overall stats in the Primera Division are 4-2-1 (wins-draws-losses).

Universitario shared the glory with Carlos Manucci in their last match, an away game that ended all square 0-0. Midfield player Barco got a match rating of 7.21 in that game, the max score being 10. Barco had 39 successful passes (of 47 total).

Before that game, the 3-1 home victory against Alianza Atletico.

This is expected to be a close game, with Universitario perhaps considered small favourites due to their home advantage. Looking back at earlier matches similar to this one (expected to be close with Universitario as a small favourite), we find 8 games. Universitario has won 4 of these, drawn 2 and lost 2.

Universitario's goalkeeper has had to pick the ball out of their own net 8 times. For more goal stats, check the Statistics tab above.

Sporting Cristal form and stats

The visitors, who have the fewest conceded goals (5) away in Primera Division, are W2-D2-L2 on the road this term. That's in the Primera Division.

Cristal delivered a 0-0 draw playing at home against Talleres Cordoba in their previous match; a Copa Libertadores duel. Chávez was the top performer of the team in that game with a match score of 7.64. The defender Chávez hit one key pass and won 4 of 7 duels.

Before that, Sporting Cristal secured a home win against Ayacucho with the score 3-2.

As mentioned above, this is an open game with no clear favourite. We have found 5 similar matches played by Sporting Cristal in our archives, and the results are: 0 wins for Sporting Cristal, 1 draw and 4 defeats.

The schedule is very tough for Cristal now as they have to travel again shortly after this match. A Copa Libertadores game at Flamengo is waiting in only three days.

The attacking power of Sporting Cristal when travelling is not overwhelming with 4 goals scored from 6 league matches away. It's not easy to score on Cristal as they have only conceded 5 goals from these away games.

Head 2 Head

H2H stats regardless of arena (last ten matches): Universitario one win, five draws and Sporting Cristal four victories. As for goals, four matches ended with three or more goals (over 2,5), six games had two or less.

Top Goalscorers

A. Valera Sandoval 9 goals

C. Gonzáles Crespo 7 goals

N. Quina Asín 5 goals

Universitario missing players

Sporting Cristal missing players