2008 Copa Libertadores

2008 Copa Libertadores de América
2008 Copa Santander Libertadores de América; 2008 Copa Santander Libertadores da América
Tournament details
Dates	January 29 – July 2
Teams	38 (from 11 confederations)
Final positions
Champions	LDU Quito (1st title)
Runners-up	Fluminense
Tournament statistics
Matches played	138
Goals scored	358 (2.59 per match)
Attendance	2,959,170 (21,443 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Salvador Cabañas; Marcelo Moreno Martins; (8 goals each)
Best player(s)	Joffre Guerrón
	← 2007 2009 →

The 2008 Copa Libertadores de América was the 49th edition of the Copa Libertadores, CONMEBOL's premier annual international club tournament. This marked the first year the competition was sponsored by Spanish bank Santander. As such, the competition is officially the 2008 Copa Santander Libertadores de América for sponsorship reasons.^[2] The draw took place on December 19, 2007 in Asunción.^[3]

Ecuadorian club LDU Quito won the competition for the first time in a final decided on penalties. It is the first time a team from Ecuador has won the competition. LDU Quito earned a berth in the 2008 FIFA Club World Cup and 2009 Recopa Sudamericana.

Qualified teams

Thirty-eight teams qualified for the competition, with twenty-six teams directly qualifying to the Second Stage and twelve entering in the First Stage. Seven countries sent their Apertura champions and Clausura champions for their first two berths. The remaining berth, or berths in Argentina's case, went to the best-placed non-champions shown by an aggregate table. Brazil's league uses a European-style format and thus does not have an Apertura and Clausura tournament. Therefore, they sent their cup champion and the best four of the Brazilian Serie A. Ecuador sent the top three finishers of their national tournament as determined by the Liguilla Final. Uruguay had a Mini-League (Liguilla) to determine who qualified, and Mexico usds the InterLiga to determine two of its qualifiers. The last qualified team in each country played in the First Stage; the defending champion's country had two teams in the first stage because the defending champion automatically qualified.

Country	Team (berth)	Qualification method
Argentina 5+1 berths	Boca Juniors	2007 Copa Libertadores champion
	Estudiantes	2006 Apertura champion
	San Lorenzo	2007 Clausura champion
	River Plate	2006-07 Primera División best-placed non-champion
	Arsenal	2006-07 Primera División 2nd best-placed non-champion
	Lanús	2006-07 Primera División 3rd best-placed non-champion
Bolivia 3 berths	Real Potosí	2007 Apertura champion
	San José	2007 Clausura champion
	La Paz	Apertura and Clausura Runner-ups Playoff winner
Brazil 5 berths	São Paulo	2007 Série A champion
	Santos	2007 Série A runner-up
	Flamengo	2007 Série A 3rd place
	Fluminense	2007 Copa do Brasil champion
	Cruzeiro	2007 Série A 5th place
Chile 3 berths	Colo-Colo	2007 Apertura & 2007 Clausura champion
	Universidad Católica	2007 Apertura league stage 2nd place
	Audax Italiano	2007 Clausura league stage 1st place
Colombia 3 berths	Atlético Nacional	2007 Apertura & 2007 Finalización champion
	Cúcuta Deportivo	2007 season best-placed non-champion
	Boyacá Chicó	2007 season 2nd best-placed non-champion
Ecuador 3 berths	LDU Quito	2007 Serie A champion
	Deportivo Cuenca	2007 Serie A runner-up
	Olmedo	2007 Serie A 3rd place
Paraguay 3 berths	Sportivo Luqueño	2007 Apertura champion
	Libertad	2007 Clausura champion
	Cerro Porteño	2007 Primera División best-placed non-champion
Peru 3 berths	Universidad San Martín	2007 Decentralizado champion
	Coronel Bolognesi	2007 Decentralizado champion
	Cienciano	2007 Decentralizado best-placed non-champion
Uruguay 3 berths	Danubio	2006-07 Primera División champion
	Nacional	2007 Liguilla Pre-Libertadores champion
	Montevideo Wanderers	2007 Liguilla Pre-Libertadores runner-up
Venezuela 3 berths	Caracas	Apertura 2006 champion
	Maracaibo	Clausura 2007 champion
	Mineros de Guayana	2006-07 Primera División best-placed non-finalist
Mexico 3 invitees (CONCACAF)	Guadalajara	2006 Apertura champion
	América	2008 InterLiga winner
	Atlas	2008 InterLiga runner-up

Teams' starting round

Second Stage
Boca Juniors	San Lorenzo	Estudiantes	River Plate
Flamengo	São Paulo	Santos	Fluminense
Real Potosí	San José	Colo-Colo	Universidad Católica
Atlético Nacional	Cúcuta Deportivo	LDU Quito	Deportivo Cuenca
Sportivo Luqueño	Libertad	Universidad San Martín	Coronel Bolognesi
Guadalajara	América
First Stage
Arsenal	Lanús	Cruzeiro	La Paz
Audax Italiano	Boyacá Chicó	Olmedo	Cerro Porteño
Cienciano	Montevideo Wanderers	Mineros de Guayana	Atlas

Round and draw dates

The calendar shows the dates of the rounds and draw.

Date	Event
December 19, 2007	The draw took place
January 29-February 12, 2008	First stage
February 12-April 23, 2008	Second stage
April 30-May 7, 2008	Round of 16
May 14-May 21, 2008	Quarterfinals
May 28-June 4, 2008	Semifinals
June 25-July 2, 2008	Finals

Tie breakers

Teams at every stage of the tournament will be awarded points depending on the result of a game: 3 for a win, 1 for a draw, 0 for a loss. The following criteria will be used for breaking ties on points:

Goal difference
Goals scored
Away goals
Draw

For the First Stage, Round of 16, Quarterfinals, and Semifinals, the fourth criteria is replaced by a penalty shoot-out if necessary. The Finals have their own set of criteria; see the finals section for more details.

First stage

The First Stage was played between January 29 and February 12.^[4] Team #1 played the second leg at home.

Teams			Scores		Tie-breakers
Team #1	Points	Team #2	1st leg	2nd leg	GD	AG	Pen.
Lanús	3:3	Olmedo	0–1	3–0	+2:−2	—	—
Cerro Porteño	0:6	Cruzeiro	1–3	2–3	—	—	—
Mineros de Guayana	3:3	Arsenal	0–2	2–1	−1:+1	—	—
La Paz	3:3	Atlas	0–2	1–0	−1:+1	—	—
Montevideo Wanderers	1:4	Cienciano	0–1	0–0	—	—	—
Audax Italiano	3:3	Boyacá Chicó	3–4	1–0	0:0	3:0	—

Second stage

A total of 26 teams qualified directly to this phase and were joined by six teams from the First Stage, bringing the total to 32 teams. The top two teams from each group advanced to the Round of 16. This stage was played between February 12 and April 23.^[4]

In results tables, the home team is listed in the left-hand column.

Group 1

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Cruzeiro	6	3	2	1	11	7	+4	11
San Lorenzo	6	3	1	2	8	7	+1	10
Caracas	6	2	1	3	6	11	−5	7
Real Potosí	6	2	0	4	11	11	0	6

	CAR	CRU	RPO	SLO
Caracas	–	1–1	2–1	2–0
Cruzeiro	3–0	–	3–0	3–1
Real Potosí	3–1	5–1	–	2–3
San Lorenzo	3–0	0–0	1–0	–

Group 2

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Estudiantes	6	3	2	1	9	5	+4	11
Lanús	6	2	4	0	9	6	+3	10
Deportivo Cuenca	6	1	3	2	2	5	−3	6
Danubio	6	1	1	4	5	9	−4	4

	DAN	CUE	EST	LAN
Danubio	–	2–0	1–2	1–2
Deportivo Cuenca	0–0	–	1–0	1–1
Estudiantes	2–0	2–0	–	0–0
Lanús	3–1	0–0	3–3	–

Group 3

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Atlas	6	3	2	1	11	6	+5	11
Boca Juniors	6	3	1	2	12	9	+3	10
Colo-Colo	6	3	1	2	11	9	+2	10
Maracaibo	6	0	2	4	3	13	−10	2

	ATL	BOC	COL	MAR
Atlas	–	3–1	3–0	3–0
Boca Juniors	3–0	–	4–3	3–0
Colo-Colo	1–1	2–0	–	2–0
Maracaibo	1–1	1–1	1–3	–

Group 4

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Flamengo	6	4	1	1	9	4	+5	13
Nacional	6	4	0	2	9	5	+4	12
Cienciano	6	2	1	3	5	9	−4	7
Coronel Bolognesi	6	0	2	4	0	5	−5	2

	CIE	BOL	FLA	NAC
Cienciano	–	1–0	0–3	2–1
Coronel Bolognesi	0–0	–	0–0	0–1
Flamengo	2–1	2–0	–	2–0
Nacional	3–1	1–0	3–0	–

Group 5

Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
River Plate	6	4	2	14	8	+6	12
América	6	3	3	10	10	0	9
Universidad Católica	6	3	3	6	6	0	9
Universidad San Martín	6	2	4	4	10	−6	6

	AME	RIV	UCA	USM
América	–	4–3	2–1	3–1
River Plate	2–1	–	2–0	5–0
Universidad Católica	2–0	1–2	–	1–0
Universidad San Martín	1–0	2–0	0–1	–

Group 6

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Cúcuta Deportivo	6	3	2	1	7	4	+3	11
Santos	6	3	1	2	13	6	+7	10
Guadalajara	6	3	0	3	8	5	+3	9
San José	6	1	1	4	4	17	−13	4

	CUC	GUA	SJO	SAN
Cúcuta Deportivo	–	1–0	0–0	0–0
Guadalajara	0–1	–	2–0	3–2
San José	2–4	0–3	–	2–1
Santos	2–1	1–0	7–0	–

Group 7

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
São Paulo	6	3	2	1	6	4	+2	11
Atlético Nacional	6	2	2	2	8	5	+3	8
Sportivo Luqueño	6	2	1	3	8	10	−2	7
Audax Italiano	6	2	1	3	6	9	−3	7

	ATN	AUD	SPA	LUQ
Atlético Nacional	–	1–1	1–1	3–0
Audax Italiano	1–0	–	1–0	1–2
São Paulo	1–0	2–1	–	1–0
Sportivo Luqueño	1–3	4–1	1–1	–

Group 8

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Fluminense	6	4	1	1	11	3	+8	13
LDU Quito	6	3	1	2	10	5	+5	10
Arsenal	6	3	0	3	6	14	−8	9
Libertad	6	1	0	5	5	10	−5	3

	ARS	FLU	LDU	LIB
Arsenal	–	2–0	0–1	1–0
Fluminense	6–0	–	1–0	2–0
LDU Quito	6–1	0–0	–	2–0
Libertad	1–2	1–2	3–1	–

Knockout stages

The last four stages of the tournament (Round of 16, Quarterfinals, Semifinals, and Finals) form a single-elimination tournament, commonly known as a knockout stages. Sixteen teams advanced into the first of these stages: the Round of 16.

Seeding

The 16 qualified teams were seeded according to their results in the Second Stage. The top teams from each group were seeded 1-8, with the team with the most points as seed 1 and the team with the least as seed 8. The second-best teams from each group were seeded 9-16, with the team with the most points as seed 9 and the team with the least as seed 16.

Teams qualified as a group winner
Seed	Team	Pts	GD	GF	AG
1	Fluminense	13	+8	11	2
2	Flamengo	13	+4	8	3
3	River Plate	12	+6	14	5
4	Atlas	11	+5	11	2
5	Cruzeiro	11	+4	11	2
6	Estudiantes	11	+4	9	5
7	Cúcuta Deportivo	11	+3	7	6
8	São Paulo	11	+2	6	2

Teams qualified as a runner-up
Seed	Team	Pts	GD	GF	AG
9	Nacional	12	+4	9	2
10	Santos	10	+7	13	3
11	LDU Quito	10	+5	10	2
12	Boca Juniors	10	+3	12	2
13	Lanús	10	+3	9	3
14	San Lorenzo	10	+1	8	4
15	América	9	0	10	1
16	Atlético Nacional	8	+3	8	3

Bracket

Template:16TeamBracket-2Leg

Round of 16

The Round of 16 was played between April 29 and 30, and May 1, 6, and 8.^[3] Team #1 played the second leg at home.

Teams			Scores		Tie-breakers
Team #1	Points	Team #2	1st leg	2nd leg	GD	AG	Pen.
Fluminense	6:0	Atlético Nacional	2–1	1–0	—	—	—
Flamengo	3:3	América	4–2	0–3	−1:+1	—	—
River Plate	1:4	San Lorenzo	1–2	2–2	—	—	—
Atlas	4:1	Lanús	1–0	2–2	—	—	—
Cruzeiro	0:6	Boca Juniors	1–2	1–2	—	—	—
Estudiantes	3:3	LDU Quito	0–2	2–1	−1:+1	—	—
Cúcuta Deportivo	0:6	Santos	0–2	0–2	—	—	—
São Paulo	4:1	Nacional	0–0	2–0	—	—	—

Quarterfinals

The Quarterfinals were played on May 14, 15, and May 21 and 22.^[3] Team #1 played the second leg at home.

Teams			Scores		Tie-breakers
Team #1	Points	Team #2	1st leg	2nd leg	GD	AG	Pen.
Fluminense	3:3	São Paulo	0–1	3–1	+1:−1	—	—
Santos	3:3	América	0–2	1–0	−1:+1	—	—
LDU Quito	2:2	San Lorenzo	1–1	1–1	0:0	1:1	5:3
Atlas	1:4	Boca Juniors	2–2	0–3	—	—	—

Semifinals

The Semifinals were played between May 27, 28, and June 3, 4.^[3] Team #1 played the second leg at home.

Teams			Scores		Tie-breakers
Team #1	Points	Team #2	1st leg	2nd leg	GD	AG	Pen.
Fluminense	4:1	Boca Juniors	2–2	3–1	—	—	—
LDU Quito	2:2	América	1–1	0–0	0:0	1:0	—

Finals

June 25, 2008

19:50 (UTC-5)

LDU Quito	4–2	Fluminense
Bieler 2' Guerrón 29' Campos 34' Urrutia 45'	Report	Conca 12' Thiago Neves 52'

Estadio Casa Blanca, Quito

Attendance: 55,359

Referee: Carlos Chandía (Chile)

July 2, 2008

21:50 (UTC-3)

Fluminense	3–1 (a.e.t.)	LDU Quito
Thiago Neves 12', 28', 56'	Report	Bolaños 6'
Penalties
Conca Thiago Neves Cícero Washington	1–3	Urrutia Campos Salas Guerrón

Estádio Mario Filho (Maracanã), Rio de Janeiro

Attendance: 86,027

Referee: Héctor Baldassi (Argentina)

Top goalscorers

Pos	Name	Team	Goals
1	Salvador Cabañas	América	8
1	Marcelo Moreno Martins	Cruzeiro	8
3	Sebastián Abreu	River Plate	7
	Bruno Marioni	Atlas	7
	Thiago Neves	Fluminense	7
	Martín Palermo	Boca Juniors	7
7	Adriano	São Paulo	6
	Kléber Pereira	Santos	6
	Mauricio Molina	Santos	6
	Washington	Fluminense	6

References

^ http://www.conmebol.com/conmebol/activeCompetition.html?x=147&sub=3&id=8084&type=2
^ "Beginning 2008 it will be the Santander Libertadores Cup". conmebol.com. Retrieved 2007-10-05.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "The 2008 Santander Libertadores Cup is already in play". conmebol.com. Retrieved 2007-12-21.
^ ^a ^b "Match Schedule" (PDF). conmebol.com. Retrieved 2008-01-10.

[1] ttp://www.conmebol.com/conmebol/activeCompetition.html?x=147&sub=3&id=8084&type=2

[2] "Beginning 2008 it will be the Santander Libertadores Cup". conmebol.com. Retrieved 2007-10-05.

[In_play-3] "The 2008 Santander Libertadores Cup is already in play". conmebol.com. Retrieved 2007-12-21.

[schedule-4] "Match Schedule" (PDF). conmebol.com. Retrieved 2008-01-10.

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