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2008 Copa Libertadores de América
Copa Santander Libertadores de América 2008; Copa Santander Libertadores da América 2008
Tournament details
Dates	January 29–July 2
Teams	38 (from 11 associations)
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; (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 usespecially 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.

Association	Team (berth)	Qualification method
Argentina 5+1 berths	Boca Juniors (Argentina 1)	2007 Copa Libertadores champion
	Estudiantes (Argentina 2)	2006 Apertura champion
	San Lorenzo (Argentina 3)	2007 Clausura champion
	River Plate (Argentina 4)	2006–07 Primera División best-placed non-champion
	Arsenal (Argentina 5)	2006–07 Primera División 2nd best-placed non-champion
	Lanús (Argentina 6)	2006–07 Primera División 3rd best-placed non-champion
Bolivia 3 berths	Real Potosí (Bolivia 1)	2007 Apertura champion
	San José (Bolivia 2)	2007 Clausura champion
	La Paz (Bolivia 3)	2007 Apertura and Clausura Runners-up Playoff winner
Brazil 5 berths	São Paulo (Brazil 1)	2007 Série A champion
	Santos (Brazil 2)	2007 Série A runner-up
	Flamengo (Brazil 3)	2007 Série A 3rd place
	Fluminense (Brazil 4)	2007 Copa do Brasil champion
	Cruzeiro (Brazil 5)	2007 Série A 5th place
Chile 3 berths	Colo-Colo (Chile 1)	2007 Apertura & 2007 Clausura champion
	Universidad Católica (Chile 2)	2007 Apertura runner-up
	Audax Italiano (Chile 3)	Best-placed team in the 2007 Clausura First Stage
Colombia 3 berths	Atlético Nacional (Colombia 1)	2007 Apertura & 2007 Finalización champion
	Cúcuta Deportivo (Colombia 2)	2007 season best-placed non-champion
	Boyacá Chicó (Colombia 3)	2007 season 2nd best-placed non-champion
Ecuador 3 berths	LDU Quito (Ecuador 1)	2007 Serie A champion
	Deportivo Cuenca (Ecuador 2)	2007 Serie A runner-up
	Olmedo (Ecuador 2)	2007 Serie A 3rd place
Paraguay 3 berths	Sportivo Luqueño (Paraguay 1)	2007 Apertura champion
	Libertad (Paraguay 2)	2007 Clausura champion
	Cerro Porteño (Paraguay 3)	2007 Primera División best-placed non-champion
Peru 3 berths	Universidad San Martín (Peru 1)	2007 Decentralizado champion
	Coronel Bolognesi (Peru 2)	2007 Decentralizado champion
	Cienciano (Peru 3)	2007 Decentralizado best-placed non-champion
Uruguay 3 berths	Danubio (Uruguay 1)	2006–07 Primera División champion
	Nacional (Uruguay 2)	2007 Liguilla Pre-Libertadores champion
	Montevideo Wanderers (Uruguay 3)	2007 Liguilla Pre-Libertadores runner-up
Venezuela 3 berths	Caracas (Venezuela 1)	2006 Apertura champion
	Unión Atlético Maracaibo (Venezuela 2)	2007 Clausura champion
	Mineros de Guayana (Venezuela 3)	2006–07 Primera División best-placed non-finalist
Mexico 3 invitees (CONCACAF)	Guadalajara (Mexico 1)	2006 Apertura champion
	América (Mexico 2)	2008 InterLiga winner
	Atlas (Mexico 3)	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
Danubio	Nacional	Caracas	Unión Atlético Maracaibo
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 criterion 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

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	CRU	SLO	CAR	RPO
1	Cruzeiro	6	3	2	1	11	7	+4	11		3–1	3–0	3–0
2	San Lorenzo	6	3	1	2	8	7	+1	10	0–0		3–0	1–0
3	Caracas	6	2	1	3	6	11	−5	7	1–1	2–0		2–1
4	Real Potosí	6	2	0	4	11	11	0	6	5–1	2–3	3–1

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Group 2

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	ELP	LAN	CUE	DAN
1	Estudiantes	6	3	2	1	9	5	+4	11		0–0	2–0	2–0
2	Lanús	6	2	4	0	9	6	+3	10	3–3		0–0	3–1
3	Deportivo Cuenca	6	1	3	2	2	5	−3	6	1–0	1–1		0–0
4	Danubio	6	1	1	4	5	9	−4	4	1–2	1–2	2–0

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Group 3

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	ATS	BOC	CC	MBO
1	Atlas	6	3	2	1	11	6	+5	11		3–1	3–0	3–0
2	Boca Juniors	6	3	1	2	12	9	+3	10	3–0		4–3	3–0
3	Colo-Colo	6	3	1	2	11	9	+2	10	1–1	2–0		2–0
4	Unión Atlético Maracaibo	6	0	2	4	3	13	−10	2	1–1	1–1	1–3

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Group 4

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	FLA	NAC	CIE	BSI
1	Flamengo	6	4	1	1	9	4	+5	13		2–0	2–1	2–0
2	Nacional	6	4	0	2	9	5	+4	12	3–0		3–1	1–0
3	Cienciano	6	2	1	3	5	9	−4	7	0–3	2–1		1–0
4	Coronel Bolognesi	6	0	2	4	0	5	−5	2	0–0	0–1	0–0

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Group 5

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	RIV	AME	UC	USM
1	River Plate	6	4	2	14	8	+6	12		2–1	2–0	5–0
2	América	6	3	3	10	10	0	9	4–3		2–1	3–1
3	Universidad Católica	6	3	3	6	6	0	9	1–2	2–0		1–0
4	Universidad San Martín	6	2	4	4	10	−6	6	2–0	1–0	0–1

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Group 6

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	CUC	SFC	GDL	SJO
1	Cúcuta Deportivo	6	3	2	1	7	4	+3	11		0–0	1–0	0–0
2	Santos	6	3	1	2	13	6	+7	10	2–1		1–0	7–0
3	Guadalajara	6	3	0	3	8	5	+3	9	0–1	3–2		2–0
4	San José	6	1	1	4	4	17	−13	4	2–4	2–1	0–3

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Group 7

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	SAO	AN	LUQ	AUD
1	São Paulo	6	3	2	1	6	4	+2	11		1–0	1–0	2–1
2	Atlético Nacional	6	2	2	2	8	5	+3	8	1–1		3–0	1–1
3	Sportivo Luqueño	6	2	1	3	8	10	−2	7	1–1	1–3		4–1
4	Audax Italiano	6	2	1	3	6	9	−3	7	1–0	1–0	1–2

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

Group 8

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	FLU	LDU	ARS	LIB
1	Fluminense	6	4	1	1	11	3	+8	13		1–0	6–0	2–0
2	LDU Quito	6	3	1	2	10	5	+5	10	0–0		6–1	2–0
3	Arsenal	6	3	0	3	6	14	−8	9	2–0	0–1		1–0
4	Libertad	6	1	0	5	5	10	−5	3	1–2	3–1	1–2

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

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

Round of 16				Quarterfinals				Semifinals				Finals

1	Fluminense	2	1

16	Atlético Nacional	1	0
				1	Fluminense	0	3

				8	São Paulo	1	1
8	São Paulo	0	2

9	Nacional	0	0
								1	Fluminense	2	3

								12	Boca Juniors	2	1
4	Atlas	1	2

13	Lanús	0	2
				4	Atlas	2	0

				12	Boca Juniors	2	3
5	Cruzeiro	1	1

12	Boca Juniors	2	2
												1	Fluminense	2	3 (1)

												11	LDU Quito (p)	4	1 (3)
6	Estudiantes	0	2

11	LDU Quito	2	1
				11	LDU Quito (p)	1	1 (5)

				14	San Lorenzo	1	1 (3)
3	River Plate	1	2

14	San Lorenzo	2	2
								11	LDU Quito (a)	1	0

								15	América	1	0
7	Cúcuta Deportivo	0	0

10	Santos	2	2
				10	Santos	0	1

				15	América	2	0
2	Flamengo	4	0

15	América	2	3

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	—	—
Atlas	1:4	Boca Juniors	2–2	0–3	—	—	—
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

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−05:00

LDU Quito	4–2	Fluminense
Bieler 2' Guerrón 29' Campos 34' Urrutia 45'	Report^{[permanent dead link‍]}	Conca 12' Thiago Neves 52'

Estadio Casa Blanca, Quito

Attendance: 55,359

Referee: Carlos Chandía (Chile)

July 2, 2008

21:50 UTC−03:00

Fluminense	3–1 (a.e.t.)	LDU Quito
Thiago Neves 12', 28', 56'	Report^{[permanent dead link‍]}	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)

Copa Santander Libertadores de América 2008 Champion
LDU Quito First Title

Top goalscorers

Pos	Name	Team	Goals
1	Salvador Cabañas	América	8
1	Marcelo Moreno	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