1996 Copa Libertadores

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 de Cali
Tournament statistics
Matches played	90
Goals scored	252 (2.8 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Anthony de Ávila (11 goals)
← 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[]

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

Group 2[]

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

Group 3[]

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

Group 4[]

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

Group 5[]

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

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 de Cali	0	3	3
	Cerro Porteño	0	0	0
	Junior	0	1	1
							Junior	1	0	1
							América de Cali	1	1	2
	Minervén	1	1	2
	América de Cali	1	4	5
																			América de Cali	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 de Cali	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 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[]

Second leg[]

River Plate won 3–2 on aggregate.

First leg[]

Second leg[]

América won 3–2 on aggregate.

Finals[]

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

River Plate won 2–1 on aggregate.

Champion[]

Copa Libertadores 1996
River Plate Second title

References[]

• Copa Libertadores 1996 at RSSSF