2015 Copa Libertadores

The 2015 Copa Libertadores de América (officially the 2015 Copa Bridgestone Libertadores for sponsorship reasons)^[1] was the 56th edition of the Copa Libertadores de América, South America's premier club football tournament organized by CONMEBOL.

2015 Copa Libertadores

2015 Copa Bridgestone Libertadores de América
Tournament details
Dates	February 3 – August 5, 2015
Teams	38 (from 11 associations)
Final positions
Champions	River Plate (3rd title)
Runners-up	UANL
Tournament statistics
Matches played	138
Goals scored	342 (2.48 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Gustavo Bou (8 goals)
Best player(s)	Joffre Guerrón
← 2014 2016 →

Argentine team River Plate qualified to play in the 2015 FIFA Club World Cup and the 2016 Recopa Sudamericana as the best-placed South American team,^[2] before winning the final against Mexican team UANL 3–0 on aggregate to win their third title.^[3] San Lorenzo were the defending champions, but they were eliminated in the group stage.

Teams

The following 38 teams from 11 associations (the 10 CONMEBOL members plus Mexico which were invited to compete) qualified for the tournament:

• Title holders
• Argentina and Brazil: 5 berths each
• All other associations: 3 berths each

The entry stage is determined as follows:

• Second stage: 26 teams (top four teams from Argentina and Brazil, and top two teams from all other associations)
• First stage: 12 teams (team with the lowest berth from each association, plus team with the second lowest berth from association of title holders)

Association	Team (Berth)	Entry stage	Qualification method
Argentina 5+1 berths	San Lorenzo (Argentina 1; Title holders)	Second stage	2014 Copa Libertadores champion
	River Plate (Argentina 2)		2014 Copa Sudamericana champion and 2014 Torneo Final champion[4]
	Racing (Argentina 3)		2014 Torneo Transición champion[5]
	Boca Juniors (Argentina 4)		2013–14 Primera División aggregate table best team not yet qualified[4]
	Huracán (Argentina 5)	First stage	2013–14 Copa Argentina champion[4]
	Estudiantes (Argentina 6)		2014 Copa Sudamericana best Argentine team not yet qualified[4]
Bolivia 3 berths	Universitario de Sucre (Bolivia 1)	Second stage	2014 Clausura champion[6]
	San José (Bolivia 2)		2014 Clausura runner-up[6]
	The Strongest (Bolivia 3)	First stage	2014 Clausura 3rd place[6]
Brazil 5 berths	Cruzeiro (Brazil 1)	Second stage	2014 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A champion[7]
	Atlético Mineiro (Brazil 2)		2014 Copa do Brasil champion[7]
	São Paulo (Brazil 3)		2014 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A runner-up[7]
	Internacional (Brazil 4)		2014 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A 3rd place[7]
	Corinthians (Brazil 5)	First stage	2014 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A 4th place[7]
Chile 3 berths	Colo-Colo (Chile 1)	Second stage	2014 Clausura champion[8]
	Universidad de Chile (Chile 2)		2014 Apertura champion[9]
	Palestino (Chile 3)	First stage	2014 Apertura Liguilla winner[9]
Colombia 3 berths	Atlético Nacional (Colombia 1)	Second stage	2014 Apertura champion[10]
	Santa Fe (Colombia 2)		2014 Finalización champion[10]
	Once Caldas (Colombia 3)	First stage	2014 Primera A aggregate table best team not yet qualified[10]
Ecuador 3 berths	Emelec (Ecuador 1)	Second stage	2014 Serie A champion[11]
	Barcelona (Ecuador 2)		2014 Serie A runner-up[11]
	Independiente del Valle (Ecuador 3)	First stage	2014 Serie A aggregate table best team not yet qualified[11]
Mexico (CONCACAF) 3 invitees	UANL (Mexico 1)	Second stage	2014 Apertura classification table best team not qualified for 2014–15 CONCACAF Champions League
	Atlas (Mexico 2)		2014 Apertura classification table 2nd best team not qualified for 2014–15 CONCACAF Champions League
	Morelia (Mexico 3)	First stage	2014 Supercopa MX champion[12]
Paraguay 3 berths	Libertad (Paraguay 1)	Second stage	2014 Apertura champion and 2014 Clausura champion[13]
	Guaraní (Paraguay 2)		2014 Primera División aggregate table 2nd best team[13]
	Cerro Porteño (Paraguay 3)	First stage	2014 Primera División aggregate table 3rd best team[13]
Peru 3 berths	Sporting Cristal (Peru 1)	Second stage	2014 Descentralizado champion[14]
	Juan Aurich (Peru 2)		2014 Descentralizado runner-up[14]
	Alianza Lima (Peru 3)	First stage	2014 Torneo del Inca champion[14]
Uruguay 3 berths	Danubio (Uruguay 1)	Second stage	2013–14 Primera División champion[15]
	Montevideo Wanderers (Uruguay 2)		2013–14 Primera División runner-up[15]
	Nacional (Uruguay 3)	First stage	2013–14 Primera División aggregate table best team not yet qualified[15]
Venezuela 3 berths	Zamora (Venezuela 1)	Second stage	2013–14 Primera División champion[16]
	Mineros de Guayana (Venezuela 2)		2013–14 Primera División runner-up[16]
	Deportivo Táchira (Venezuela 3)	First stage	2013–14 Primera División aggregate table best team not yet qualified[16]

Draw

Boca Juniors
Huracán
Racing
River Plate
San Lorenzo
Estudiantes

Universitario

San José

The Strongest

Atlético Mineiro
Cruzeiro

Corinthians
São Paulo

Internacional

Colo-Colo
Palestino
U. de Chile

Atl. Nacional

Once Caldas

Santa Fe

Barcelona
Emelec

Independiente del Valle

Cerro Porteño
Guaraní
Libertad

Juan Aurich

Alianza Lima
Sporting Cristal

Danubio
Wanderers
Nacional

Zamora

Mineros

Dep. Táchira

Location of teams of the 2015 Copa Libertadores from South America.

Morelia

Atlas

UANL

Location of teams of the 2015 Copa Libertadores from Mexico.

The draw of the tournament was held on December 2, 2014, at the CONMEBOL Convention Centre in Luque, Paraguay.^[17]

For the first stage, the 12 teams were drawn into six ties containing a team from Pot 1 and a team from Pot 2, with the former hosting the second leg. The seeding of each team was determined by which associations reached the furthest stage in the previous Copa Libertadores.^[2]

Pots for the first stage draw

Pot A	Pot B
Huracán Estudiantes The Strongest Once Caldas Cerro Porteño Nacional	Corinthians Palestino Independiente del Valle Morelia Alianza Lima Deportivo Táchira

For the second stage, the 32 teams were drawn into eight groups of four containing one team from each of the four seeding pots. The seeding of each team was determined by their association and qualifying berth (as per the rotational agreement established by CONMEBOL, the teams which qualified through berths 1 from Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela were seeded into Pot 1 for odd-numbered years, while the teams which qualified through berths 1 from Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay were seeded into Pot 1 for even-numbered years).^[2] Teams from the same association in Pots 1 and 2 could not be drawn into the same group. However, a first stage winner, whose identity was not known at the time of the draw, could be drawn into the same group with another team from the same association.

Pots for the second stage draw

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3	Pot 4
San Lorenzo River Plate Cruzeiro Atlético Mineiro Atlético Nacional Emelec Sporting Cristal Zamora	Racing Boca Juniors São Paulo Internacional Santa Fe Barcelona Juan Aurich Mineros de Guayana	Universitario de Sucre San José Colo-Colo Universidad de Chile Libertad Guaraní Danubio Montevideo Wanderers	UANL Atlas Winner G1 Winner G2 Winner G3 Winner G4 Winner G5 Winner G6

Schedule

The schedule of the competition was as follows (all dates listed were Wednesdays, but matches could also be played on Tuesdays and Thursdays as well).^[18] There was a two-month break between the quarterfinals and semifinals due to the 2015 Copa América.

Stage	First leg	Second leg
First stage	February 4	February 11
Second stage	February 18, 25 March 4, 11, 18 April 1, 8, 15, 22
Round of 16	April 29[†] May 6	May 6[†], 13
Quarterfinals	May 20	May 27
Semifinals	July 15	July 22
Finals	July 29	August 5

Notes

1. ^† For matches involving teams from Mexico.

First stage

Main article: 2015 Copa Libertadores first stage

In the first stage, each tie was played on a home-and-away two-legged basis. If tied on aggregate, the away goals rule would be used. If still tied, the penalty shoot-out would be used to determine the winner (no extra time would be played). The six winners of the first stage advanced to the second stage to join the 26 automatic qualifiers.^[2]

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Alianza Lima	0–4	Huracán	0–4	0–0
Independiente del Valle	1–4	Estudiantes	1–0	0–4
Deportivo Táchira	4–3	Cerro Porteño	2–1	2–2
Morelia	1–3	The Strongest	1–1	0–2
Palestino	2–2 (a)	Nacional	1–0	1–2
Corinthians	5–1	Once Caldas	4–0	1–1

Second stage

Main article: 2015 Copa Libertadores second stage

In the second stage, each group was played on a home-and-away round-robin basis. The teams were ranked according to points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, 0 points for a loss). If tied on points, tiebreakers were applied in the following order: 1. Goal difference; 2. Goals scored; 3. Away goals scored; 4. Drawing of lots. The winners and runners-up of each group advanced to the round of 16.^[2]

Group 1

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		SFE	CAM	CCL	ATL
1	Santa Fe	6	4	0	2	10	5	+5	12	Advance to final stages		—	0–1	3–1	3–1
2	Atlético Mineiro	6	3	0	3	5	4	+1	9			2–0	—	2–0	0–1
3	Colo-Colo	6	3	0	3	8	9	−1	9			0–3	2–0	—	2–0
4	Atlas	6	2	0	4	4	9	−5	6			0–1	1–0	1–3	—

Source: CONMEBOL

Group 2

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		COR	SPA	SLA	DAN
1	Corinthians	6	4	1	1	9	3	+6	13	Advance to final stages		—	2–0	0–0	4–0
2	São Paulo	6	4	0	2	9	4	+5	12			2–0	—	1–0	4–0
3	San Lorenzo	6	2	1	3	3	4	−1	7			0–1	1–0	—	0–1
4	Danubio	6	1	0	5	4	14	−10	3			1–2	1–2	1–2	—

Source: CONMEBOL

Group 3

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		CRU	UNI	HUR	MIN
1	Cruzeiro	6	3	2	1	8	3	+5	11	Advance to final stages		—	2–0	0–0	3–0
2	Universitario de Sucre	6	2	3	1	4	3	+1	9			0–0	—	0–0	2–0
3	Huracán	6	1	4	1	6	7	−1	7			3–1	1–1	—	2–2
4	Mineros de Guayana	6	1	1	4	5	10	−5	4			0–2	0–1	3–0	—

Source: CONMEBOL

Group 4

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		INT	EME	STR	UCH
1	Internacional	6	4	1	1	13	7	+6	13	Advance to final stages		—	3–2	1–0	3–1
2	Emelec	6	3	1	2	9	5	+4	10			1–1	—	3–0	2–0
3	The Strongest	6	3	0	3	10	11	−1	9			3–1	1–0	—	5–3
4	Universidad de Chile	6	1	0	5	7	16	−9	3			0–4	0–1	3–1	—

Source: CONMEBOL

Group 5

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		BOC	WAN	PAL	ZAM
1	Boca Juniors	6	6	0	0	19	2	+17	18	Advance to final stages		—	2–1	2–0	5–0
2	Montevideo Wanderers	6	3	1	2	9	8	+1	10			0–3	—	1–0	3–2
3	Palestino	6	2	1	3	6	6	0	7			0–2	1–1	—	4–0
4	Zamora	6	0	0	6	3	21	−18	0			1–5	0–3	0–1	—

Source: CONMEBOL

Group 6

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		TIG	RIV	JUA	SJO
1	UANL	6	4	2	0	16	7	+9	14	Advance to final stages		—	2–2	3–0	4–0
2	River Plate	6	1	4	1	8	7	+1	7			1–1	—	1–1	3–0
3	Juan Aurich	6	1	3	2	9	11	−2	6			4–5	1–1	—	2–0
4	San José	6	1	1	4	3	11	−8	4			0–1	2–0	1–1	—

Source: CONMEBOL

Group 7

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		CAN	EST	LIB	BAR
1	Atlético Nacional	6	3	2	1	12	7	+5	11	Advance to final stages		—	1–1	4–0	2–3
2	Estudiantes	6	3	1	2	7	3	+4	10			0–1	—	1–0	3–0
3	Libertad	6	2	2	2	5	8	−3	8			2–2	1–0	—	1–1
4	Barcelona	6	1	1	4	5	11	−6	4			1–2	0–2	0–1	—

Source: CONMEBOL

Group 8

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		RAC	GUA	CRI	TAC
1	Racing	6	4	0	2	15	7	+8	12	Advance to final stages		—	4–1	1–2	3–2
2	Guaraní	6	2	3	1	12	10	+2	9			2–0	—	2–2	5–2
3	Sporting Cristal	6	1	4	1	6	7	−1	7			0–2	1–1	—	1–1
4	Deportivo Táchira	6	0	3	3	6	15	−9	3			0–5	1–1	0–0	—

Source: CONMEBOL

Final stages

Main article: 2015 Copa Libertadores final stages

In the final stages, the 16 teams played a single-elimination tournament, with the following rules:^[2]

• Each tie was played on a home-and-away two-legged basis, with the higher-seeded team hosting the second leg. However, CONMEBOL required that the second leg of the finals had to be played in South America, i.e., if there was a finalist from Mexico, they would have to host the first leg regardless of seeding.
• In the round of 16, quarterfinals, and semifinals, if tied on aggregate, the away goals rule would be used. If still tied, the penalty shoot-out would be used to determine the winner (no extra time would be played).
• In the finals, if tied on aggregate, the away goals rule would not be used, and 30 minutes of extra time would be played. If still tied after extra time, the penalty shoot-out would be used to determine the winner.
• If there were two semifinalists from the same association, they would have to play each other.

Seeding

The qualified teams were seeded in the final stages according to their results in the second stage, with the group winners seeded 1–8, and the group runners-up seeded 9–16.^[2]

Seed	Grp	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	5	Boca Juniors	6	6	0	0	19	2	+17	18
2	6	UANL	6	4	2	0	16	7	+9	14
3	4	Internacional	6	4	1	1	13	7	+6	13
4	2	Corinthians	6	4	1	1	9	3	+6	13
5	8	Racing	6	4	0	2	15	7	+8	12
6	1	Santa Fe	6	4	0	2	10	5	+5	12
7	7	Atlético Nacional	6	3	2	1	12	7	+5	11
8	3	Cruzeiro	6	3	2	1	8	3	+5	11
9	2	São Paulo	6	4	0	2	9	4	+5	12
10	4	Emelec	6	3	1	2	9	5	+4	10
11	7	Estudiantes	6	3	1	2	7	3	+4	10
12	5	Montevideo Wanderers	6	3	1	2	9	8	+1	10
13	8	Guaraní	6	2	3	1	12	10	+2	9
14	1	Atlético Mineiro	6	3	0	3	5	4	+1	9
15	3	Universitario de Sucre	6	2	3	1	4	3	+1	9
16	6	River Plate	6	1	4	1	8	7	+1	7

Source: CONMEBOL
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Away goals scored; 5) Drawing of lots.^[2]

Bracket

	Round of 16							Quarterfinals							Semifinals							Finals
	11	Estudiantes	2	0	2
	6	Santa Fe	1	2	3
								6	Santa Fe	1	0	1
								3	Internacional	0	2	2
	14	Atlético Mineiro	2	1	3
	3	Internacional	2	3	5
															3	Internacional	2	1	3
															2	UANL	1	3	4
	10	Emelec	2	0	2
	7	Atlético Nacional	0	1	1
								10	Emelec	1	0	1
								2	UANL	0	2	2
	15	Universitario de Sucre	1	1	2
	2	UANL	2	1	3
																						2	UANL	0	0	0
																						16	River Plate	0	3	3
	16	River Plate	1	0	1
	1	Boca Juniors (DQ)	0	0	0
								16	River Plate	0	3	3
								8	Cruzeiro	1	0	1
	9	São Paulo	1	0	1 (3)
	8	Cruzeiro (p)	0	1	1 (4)
															16	River Plate	2	1	3
															13	Guaraní	0	1	1
	13	Guaraní	2	1	3
	4	Corinthians	0	0	0
								13	Guaraní	1	0	1
								5	Racing	0	0	0
	12	Montevideo Wanderers	1	1	2
	5	Racing	1	2	3

Round of 16

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
River Plate	1–0[A]	Boca Juniors	1–0	0–0 (susp.)
Universitario de Sucre	2–3	UANL	1–2	1–1
Atlético Mineiro	3–5	Internacional	2–2	1–3
Guaraní	3–0	Corinthians	2–0	1–0
Montevideo Wanderers	2–3	Racing	1–1	1–2
Estudiantes	2–3	Santa Fe	2–1	0–2
Emelec	2–1	Atlético Nacional	2–0	0–1
São Paulo	1–1 (3–4 p)	Cruzeiro	1–0	0–1

Notes

1. ^
   The second leg of Boca Juniors against River Plate was suspended after River Plate players were attacked with pepper spray by Boca Juniors fans when the squad returned to the field following halftime, with the match still 0–0 (River Plate leading 1–0 on aggregate).^[19] CONMEBOL opened disciplinary proceedings against Boca Juniors, and decided to disqualify them from the tournament on May 16, 2015.^[20][21]

Quarterfinals

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
River Plate	3–1	Cruzeiro	0–1	3–0
Emelec	1–2	UANL	1–0	0–2
Santa Fe	1–2	Internacional	1–0	0–2
Guaraní	1–0	Racing	1–0	0–0

Semifinals

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
River Plate	3–1	Guaraní	2–0	1–1
Internacional	3–4	UANL	2–1	1–3

Finals

Main article: 2015 Copa Libertadores Finals

The finals were played on a home-and-away two-legged basis. If tied on aggregate, the away goals rule would not be used, and 30 minutes of extra time would be played. If still tied after extra time, the penalty shoot-out would be used to determine the winner.^[2]

Since UANL are not a South American club, by rule they had to host the first leg regardless of seeding.^[2]

July 29, 2015

20:00 UTC−5

UANL	0–0	River Plate
	Report

Estadio Universitario, San Nicolás de los Garza

Attendance: 40,000

Referee: Antonio Arias (Paraguay)

---

August 5, 2015

22:00 UTC−3

River Plate	3–0	UANL
Alario 44' Sánchez 74' (pen.) Funes Mori 78'	Report

Estadio Antonio Vespucio Liberti, Buenos Aires

Attendance: 69,000

Referee: Darío Ubriaco (Uruguay)

Top goalscorers

Rank	Player	Team	Goals
1	Gustavo Bou	Racing	8
2	Guido Carrillo	Estudiantes	7
3	Miler Bolaños	Emelec	6
	Federico Santander	Guaraní	6
5	Esteban Paredes	Colo-Colo	5
	Valdívia	Internacional	5
7	Ramón Ábila	Huracán	4
	Andrés D'Alessandro	Internacional	4
	Elias	Corinthians	4
	Pablo Daniel Escobar	The Strongest	4
	Enrique Esqueda	UANL	4
	Fernando Fernández	Guaraní	4
	Paolo Guerrero	Corinthians	4
	Joffre Guerrón	UANL	4
	Leandro Damião	Cruzeiro	4
	Diego Milito	Racing	4
	Rodrigo Mora	River Plate	4
	Wilson Morelo	Santa Fe	4
	Carlos Sánchez	River Plate	4
	Rafael Sóbis	UANL	4
	Luis Carlos Ruiz	Atlético Nacional	4
	Zamir Valoyes	Mineros	4

Source: CONMEBOL.com^[22]

See also

• 2015 FIFA Club World Cup
• 2015 Copa Sudamericana
• 2016 Recopa Sudamericana