1996 Copa Libertadores

The 1996 edition of Copa Libertadores was the 37th in the tournament's history. Twenty-one teams participated in the competition. River Plate, of Argentina, won the tournament for their second time. The tournament began on March 13 and ended on June 26.

1996 Copa Libertadores de América

Libertadores 1996
Tournament details
Dates	March 13 - June 26
Teams	21 (from 10 associations)
Final positions
Champions	River Plate (2nd title)
Runners-up	América
Tournament statistics
Matches played	90
Goals scored	252 (2.8 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Anthony de Ávila (11 goals)

Group stage

Twenty teams were divided into five groups of four teams each for the Group Stage. The top three teams of each group, as well as Grêmio (who received a bye as winners of the previous year's edition of the tournament) qualified to the Round of 16.

Group 1

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts		BAR	CP	ESP	OLI
Barcelona	6	4	1	1	11	8	+3	13			3–2	3–2	2–1
Cerro Porteño	6	3	1	2	8	7	+1	10		1–0		2–1	0–0
ESPOLI	6	2	0	4	7	10	−3	6		1–2	2–1		1–0
Olimpia	6	1	2	3	5	6	−1	5		1–1	1–2	2–0

Source:

Group 2

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts		CAP	DFS	CRI	UNI
Peñarol	6	2	3	1	13	10	+3	9			1–1	1–1	1–2
Defensor Sporting	6	1	4	1	6	6	0	7		2–4		0–0	2–0
Sporting Cristal	6	1	4	1	6	7	−1	7		3–3	0–0		0–2
Universitario	6	2	1	3	7	9	−2	7		1–3	1–1	1–2

Source:

Group 3

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts		AC	JR	SJ	GUA
América	6	4	0	2	11	2	+9	12			2–0	2–0	5–0
Junior	6	3	1	2	8	6	+2	10		1–0		1–0	5–1
San José	6	3	0	3	6	8	−2	9		1–0	2–0		2–1
Guabirá	6	1	1	4	7	16	−9	4		0–2	1–1	4–1

Source:

Group 4

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts		COR	UCH	BOT	UC
Corinthians	6	4	1	1	13	6	+7	13			3–1	3–0	3–1
Universidad de Chile	6	3	1	2	7	7	0	10		1–0		2–1	2–0
Botafogo	6	2	1	3	10	10	0	7		1–1	3–1		4–1
Universidad Católica	6	1	1	4	6	13	−7	4		2–3	0–0	2–1

Source:

Group 5

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts		RPL	SLA	MFC	CAR
River Plate	6	4	2	0	14	3	+11	14			0–0	5–0	2–0
San Lorenzo	6	2	4	0	13	5	+8	10		1–1		4–0	5–1
Minervén	6	1	2	3	8	16	−8	5		1–2	2–2		4–2
Caracas	6	0	2	4	6	17	−11	2		1–4	1–1	1–1

Source:

Knockout stages

Bracket

	Round of 16						Quarterfinals						Semifinals						Final
	ESPOLI	1	0	1
	Corinthians	3	2	5
							Corinthians	0	1	1
							Grêmio	3	0	3
	Botafogo	1	0	1
	Grêmio	1	2	3
													Grêmio	1	1	2
												América	0	3	3
	Cerro Porteño	0	0	0
	Junior	0	1	1
							Junior	1	0	1
							América	1	1	2
	Minervén	1	1	2
	América	1	4	5
																		América	1	0	1
																			River Plate	0	2	2
	U. de Chile	3	1	4 (7)
	Defensor Sporting	2	2	4 (6)
							U. de Chile	2	1	3
							Barcelona	0	1	1
	San José	1	1	2 (2)
	Barcelona	0	2	2 (4)
													U. de Chile	2	0	2
												River Plate	2	1	3
	San Lorenzo	3	5	8
	Peñarol	2	1	3
							San Lorenzo	1	1	2
							River Plate	2	1	3
	Sporting Cristal	2	2	4
	River Plate	1	5	6

Round of 16

First leg matches were played between April 30 and May 2. Second leg matches were played on May 8 and May 9.

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Universidad de Chile	4–4 (7–6 p)	Defensor Sporting	3–2	1–2
Botafogo	1–3	Grêmio	1–1	0–2
Cerro Porteño	0–1	Junior	0–0	0–1
Minervén	2–5	América	1–1	1–4
Sporting Cristal	4–6	River Plate	2–1	2–5
San José	2–2 (2–4 p)	Barcelona	1–0	1–2
ESPOLI	1–5	Corinthians	1–3	0–2
San Lorenzo	8–3	Peñarol	3–2	5–1

Quarter-Finals

First leg matches were played on May 15. Second leg matches were played on May 22 and May 24.

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
San Lorenzo	2-3	River Plate	1-2	1-1
Corinthians	1-3	Grêmio	0-3	1-0
Junior	1-2	América	1-1	0-1
Universidad de Chile	3-1	Barcelona	2-0	1-1

Semi-Finals

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Universidad de Chile	2-3	River Plate	2-2	0-1
Grêmio	2-3	América	1-0	1-3

First leg

Universidad de Chile v River Plate

5 June 1996	Universidad de Chile	2 – 2	River Plate	Estadio Nacional de Chile, Santiago
21:15	Valencia  23' Salas  69'		Francescoli  21' Sorín  77'	Referee: José Luis da Rosa (Uruguay)

Second leg

River Plate v Universidad de Chile

12 June 1996	River Plate	1 – 0	Universidad de Chile	Estadio Monumental Antonio Vespucio Liberti (Monumental de Nuñez), Buenos Aires
	Almeyda  33'			Referee: Alfredo Rodas (Ecuador)

River Plate won 3–2 on aggregate.

First leg

Grêmio v América

4 June 1996	Grêmio	1 – 0	América	Estádio Olímpico Monumental, Porto Alegre
	Goiano  31'			Referee: Óscar Velásquez (Paraguay)

Second leg

América v Grêmio

12 June 1996	América	3 – 1	Grêmio	Estadio Pascual Guerrero, Cali
	Bermúdez  39', 83' Escobar  77'		Jardel  16'	Referee: Alberto Tejada (Perú)

América won 3–2 on aggregate.

Finals

Main article: 1996 Copa Libertadores Finals

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
América	1-2	River Plate	1-0	0-2

América v River Plate

19 June 1996	América	1 – 0	River Plate	Estadio Olímpico Pascual Guerrero, Santiago de Cali
20:30	de Ávila  26'			Referee: Oscar Velásquez (Paraguay)

River Plate v América

26 June 1996	River Plate	2 – 0	América	Estadio Monumental Antonio Vespucio Liberti, Buenos Aires
21:45	Crespo  6', 59'			Referee: Júlio Matto (Uruguay)

River Plate won 2–1 on aggregate.

Champion

Copa Libertadores 1996
River Plate Second title

References

• Copa Libertadores 1996 at RSSSF