1996 Copa Libertadores

1996 Copa Libertadores de América

Copa Libertadores de América 1996
Tournament details
Dates	March 13 - June 26
Teams	21 (from 10 associations)
Final positions
Champions	River Plate (2nd title)
Runners-up	América de Cali
← 1995 1997 →

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.

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	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
Barcelona	13	6	4	1	1	11	8	+3
Cerro Porteño	10	6	3	1	2	8	7	+1
ESPOLI	6	6	2	0	4	7	10	-3
Olimpia	5	6	1	2	3	5	6	-1

March 13, 1996
Olimpia	1–2	Cerro Porteño	Asunción
Barcelona	3–2	Espoli	Guayaquil
March 19, 1996
Espoli	1–0	Olimpia	Quito
March 22, 1996
Barcelona	2–1	Olimpia	Guayaquil
March 26, 1996
Espoli	2–1	Cerro Porteño	Quito
March 29, 1996
Barcelona	3–2	Cerro Porteño	Guayaquil
April 3, 1996
Espoli	1–2	Barcelona	Quito
Cerro Porteño	0–0	Olimpia	Asunción
April 9, 1996
Cerro Porteño	2–1	Espoli	Asunción
April 12, 1996
Olimpia	2–0	Espoli	Asunción
April 16, 1996
Cerro Porteño	1–0	Barcelona	Asunción
April 19, 1996
Olimpia	1–1	Barcelona	Asunción

Group 2

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
Peñarol	9	6	2	3	1	13	10	+3
Defensor Sporting	7	6	1	4	1	6	6	0
Sporting Cristal	7	6	1	4	1	6	7	-1
Universitario	7	6	2	1	3	7	9	-2

March 13, 1996
Sporting Cristal	0–2	Universitario	Lima
March 18, 1996
Defensor Sporting	2–4	Peñarol	Montevideo
March 23, 1996
Universitario	1–3	Peñarol	Lima
March 26, 1996
Sporting Cristal	3–3	Peñarol	Lima
March 30, 1996
Universitario	1–1	Defensor Sporting	Lima
April 2, 1996
Sporting Cristal	0–0	Defensor Sporting	Lima
April 7, 1996
Peñarol	1–1	Defensor Sporting	Montevideo
Universitario	1–2	Sporting Cristal	Lima
April 12, 1996
Defensor Sporting	2–0	Universitario	Montevideo
April 13, 1996
Peñarol	1–1	Sporting Cristal	Montevideo
April 16, 1996
Peñarol	1–2	Universitario	Montevideo
April 17, 1996
Defensor Sporting	0–0	Sporting Cristal	Montevideo

Group 3

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
América de Cali	12	6	4	0	2	11	2	+9
Junior	10	6	3	1	2	8	6	+2
San José	9	6	3	0	3	6	8	-2
Guabirá	4	6	1	1	4	7	16	-9

March 13, 1996
Junior	1–0	América de Cali	Barranquilla
San José	2–1	Guabirá	Oruro
March 19, 1996
Guabirá	0–2	América de Cali	Santa Cruz
March 22, 1996
San José	1–0	América de Cali	Oruro
March 26, 1996
Junior	5–1	Guabirá	Barranquilla
March 29, 1996
América de Cali	5–0	Guabirá	Cali
April 3, 1996
América de Cali	2–0	Junior	Cali
Guabirá	4–1	San José	Santa Cruz
April 9, 1996
San José	2–0	Junior	Oruro
April 12, 1996
Guabirá	1–1	Junior	Santa Cruz
April 16, 1996
Junior	1–0	San José	Barranquilla
April 19, 1996
América de Cali	2–0	San José	Cali

Group 4

Team	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
Corinthians	13	6	4	1	1	13	6	+7
Universidad de Chile	10	6	3	1	2	7	7	0
Botafogo	7	6	2	1	3	10	10	0
Universidad Católica	4	6	1	1	4	6	13	-7

March 13, 1996
Corinthians	3–0	Botafogo	São Paulo
Universidad de Chile	2–0	Universidad Católica	Santiago
March 19, 1996
Universidad Católica	2–3	Corinthians	Santiago
March 22, 1996
Universidad de Chile	1–0	Corinthians	Santiago
March 26, 1996
Botafogo	4–1	Universidad Católica	Rio de Janeiro
March 29, 1996
Corithians	3–1	Universidad Católica	São Paulo
April 3, 1996
Botafogo	1–1	Corinthians	Rio de Janeiro
Universidad Católica	0–0	Universidad de Chile	Santiago
April 9, 1996
Universidad Católica	2–1	Botafogo	Santiago
April 12, 1996
Universidad de Chile	2–1	Botafogo	Santiago
April 16, 1996
Corinthians	3–1	Universidad de Chile	São Paulo
April 19, 1996
Botafogo	3–1	Universidad de Chile	Rio de Janeiro

Group 5

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

March 13, 1996
San Lorenzo	1–1	River Plate	Buenos Aires
Minervén	4–2	Caracas FC	Puerto Ordaz
March 18, 1996
Minervén	2–2	San Lorenzo	Puerto Ordaz
March 21, 1996
Caracas FC	1–1	San Lorenzo	Caracas
March 25, 1996
Minervén	1–2	River Plate	Puerto Ordaz
March 28, 1996
Caracas FC	1–4	River Plate	Caracas
April 3, 1996
River Plate	0–0	San Lorenzo	Buenos Aires
Caracas FC	1–1	Minervén	Caracas
April 9, 1996
San Lorenzo	4–0	Minervén	Buenos Aires
April 11, 1996
River Plate	5–0	Minervén	Buenos Aires
April 16, 1996
San Lorenzo	5–1	Caracas FC	Buenos Aires
April 18, 1996
River Plate	2–0	Caracas FC	Buenos Aires

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 pk)	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 de Cali	1-1	1-4
Sporting Cristal	4-6	River Plate	2-1	2-5
San José	2-2 (2-4 pk)	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 de Cali	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 de Cali	1-0	1-3

First leg

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

Second leg

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

River Plate won 3–2 on aggregate.

Final

Main article: 1996 Copa Libertadores Finals

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

First leg

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

Second leg

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

River Plate won 2–1 on aggregate.

Champion

Copa Libertadores 1996: River Plate Second title

References

• Copa Libertadores 1996 at RSSSF