Boca Juniors vs. Palmeiras Betting Tips: Friday's Copa Libertadores semi-final to see red

In this season's second Copa Libertadores semi-final first leg, Argentinians Boca Juniors meet the Brazilian Palmeiras in the early hours of Friday morning BST.

Boca Juniors are desperately trying to close a 16-year gap between now and the last time they lifted the premier South American trophy. The Argentines have tasted victory in this competition six times in their history and this season won four of their six group stage games before progressing via penalties in their two knockout stage matches to reach the semi-finals of this tournament.

For Palmeiras, they're hunting a third Copa Libertadores title in the last four years. Bolivar handed them a losing start to life in the group stages, but the 2022 semi-finalists bounced back strongly by winning their remaining five matches to top the group. 1-0 and 4-0 aggregate wins over Atletico Mineiro and Deportivo Pereira have led them to this point where they, like Boca Juniors, face their toughest test yet.

It might be a stereotype that all South American football is rough and tumble, but the recent stats don't lie in this regard.

This calendar year, Boca Juniors have seen a red card branded either to themselves or their opposition on 18 occasions!

In Palmeiras' case, 16 reds have been shown since April - which is almost identical to the 15 that the Argentinian club have witnessed in games during this time.

Five of those reds have come in Copa Libertadores games for Boca Juniors, while there's an additional six to consider in this competition for Palmeiras or their opponents.

Discipline clearly goes out of the window on occasions when these two are involved and given the magnitude of Friday's semi-final first leg, we're tipping at least one of the pair to see red again.

Neither Boca Juniors nor Palmeiras have given much away during the Copa Libertadores knockout stages. In their four outings so far, Palestra are yet to concede a single goal, while Friday's hosts Xeneize have kept a clean sheet in three out of four last-16 and quarter-final ties.

You have to go back 10 games for the last time Palmeiras conceded a goal at all, which came in a 2-1 defeat to Fluminese.

The home team have started slowly in Group B of the Argentine Primera Division, winning just two of their opening six fixtures and scoring only seven goals and conceding five during this first phase of the new campaign.

Friday's visitors have done their best work on the road, with both knockout victories coming away from home.

We envisage a tight win for the travellers in this first leg, pairing them to win with under 2.5 goals which has landed in nine of their last 11 matches.