Deportivo Pasto
- Pasto will likely line up in a 4-4-2, although they are a structure-first team that will look to counter and win set-pieces, particularly at home where the altitude (2,500m) makes it tough for visiting teams to maintain tempo.
- Pasto have been in mixed form recently, but finished 2025 on a high with a 4-0 home win over Deportivo Pereira and a 3-0 victory against Atlético Bucaramanga.
- Jonathan Risueño takes charge of Pasto after they finished mid-table in 2025 and has been given a mandate to rebuild the side with a young, attacking philosophy.
Independiente Medellín
- In Alejandro Restrepo, Medellín have a coach capable of building a compact, pressing team that has reached cup finals and has enough quality to compete at Libertadores level - hence his new contract to 2027.
- His team is high-tempo, often switching between 3-5-2 and 4-3-3 and they can be very strong going forward.
- Medellín also ended the previous season in good shape, putting three past América de Cali and four past Pereira.
Head-to-Head
Under 2.5 goals were scored in most recent meetings, with Medellín winning 2-1 in August 2025 and Pasto1-0 at home in September 2024.
Key Players
- Santiago Jiménez brings plenty of experience to a frontline that was bolstered in 2025 by the emergence of Yoshan Valois, a speedy attacker.
- Medellín will look to the creativity of Brayan Léon, a provider of assists, and the opportunism of Jarlan Barrera and Esneyder Mena, who can strike at any moment.
- Francisco Fydriszewski is a lethal finisher, who hit double figures in 2025 and has a nose for the goal, while Santiago Jiménez also brings goals and assists, with Facundo Boné and Patrick Preciado also likely to deliver the occasional assist or late winner.
Betting Insights
This could be a mismatch on paper as Medellín have a deeper squad, more momentum and have been assigned favorable odds at 1.9 to beat the home team, who are 4.1 to cause an upset.
Prediction
The draw is available at 3.3 and could be the smart play given how cagey recent meetings between these clubs have been, but Medellín have a great balance of attacking talent and we are backing them to find a way to edge this tight game.
