2018 Copa Libertadores final stages

The 2018 Copa Libertadores final stages were played from 7 August to 9 December 2018. ^[1] A total of 16 teams competed in the final stages to decide the champions of the 2018 Copa Libertadores. ^[2]

Qualified teams

The winners and runners-up of each of the eight groups in the group stage advanced to the round of 16.

Group	Winners	Runners-up
A	Grêmio	Cerro Porteño
B	Atlético Nacional	Colo-Colo
C	Libertad	Atlético Tucumán
D	River Plate	Flamengo
E	Cruzeiro	Racing
F	Santos	Estudiantes
G	Corinthians	Independiente
H	Palmeiras	Boca Juniors

Seeding

Starting from the round of 16, the teams were seeded according to their results in the group stage, with the group winners (Pot 1 in round of 16 draw) seeded 1–8, and the group runners-up (Pot 2 in round of 16 draw) seeded 9–16. ^[3]

Seed	Grp	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Round of 16 draw
1	H	Palmeiras	6	5	1	0	14	3	+11	16	Pot 1
2	A	Grêmio	6	4	2	0	13	2	+11	14
3	C	Libertad	6	4	1	1	10	4	+6	13
4	D	River Plate	6	3	3	0	6	3	+3	12
5	E	Cruzeiro	6	3	2	1	15	5	+10	11
6	G	Corinthians	6	3	1	2	11	5	+6	10
7	B	Atlético Nacional	6	3	1	2	9	3	+6	10
8	F	Santos	6	3	1	2	6	4	+2	10
9	A	Cerro Porteño	6	4	1	1	8	8	0	13	Pot 2
10	E	Racing	6	3	2	1	12	6	+6	11
11	D	Flamengo	6	2	4	0	7	4	+3	10
12	G	Independiente	6	3	1	2	6	4	+2	10
13	C	Atlético Tucumán	6	3	1	2	7	6	+1	10
14	H	Boca Juniors	6	2	3	1	8	4	+4	9
15	F	Estudiantes	6	2	2	2	6	4	+2	8
16	B	Colo-Colo	6	2	2	2	5	5	0	8

Source: CONMEBOL
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Away goals scored; 5) CONMEBOL ranking (Regulations Article 22.i). ^[2]

Format

Starting from the round of 16, the 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 (Regulations Article 23).
• In the round of 16, quarterfinals, and semifinals, if tied on aggregate, the away goals rule was used. If still tied, extra time was not played, and a penalty shoot-out was used to determine the winner (Regulations Article 29).
• In the finals, if tied on aggregate, the away goals rule was not used, and 30 minutes of extra time were played. If still tied after extra time, a penalty shoot-out was used to determine the winner (Regulations Article 30).

Draw

The draw for the round of 16 was held on 4 June 2018, 20:00 PYT (UTC−4), at the CONMEBOL Convention Centre in Luque, Paraguay. ^{[4] [5]} For the round of 16, the 16 teams were drawn into eight ties (A–H) between a group winner (Pot 1) and a group runner-up (Pot 2), with the group winners hosting the second leg. Teams from the same association or the same group could be drawn into the same tie. ^[6]

Bracket

The bracket starting from the round of 16 was determined as follows:

Round	Matchups
Round of 16	(Group winners host second leg, matchups decided by draw) Match A Match B Match C Match D Match E Match F Match G Match H
Quarterfinals	(Higher-seeded team host second leg) Match S1: Winner A vs. Winner H Match S2: Winner B vs. Winner G Match S3: Winner C vs. Winner F Match S4: Winner D vs. Winner E
Semifinals	(Higher-seeded team host second leg) Match F1: Winner S1 vs. Winner S4 Match F2: Winner S2 vs. Winner S3
Finals	(Higher-seeded team host second leg) Winner F1 vs. Winner F2

The bracket was decided based on the round of 16 draw, which was held on 4 June 2018.

	Round of 16							Quarterfinals							Semifinals							Finals
	14	Boca Juniors	2	4	6
	3	Libertad	0	2	2
								14	Boca Juniors	2	1	3
								5	Cruzeiro	0	1	1
	11	Flamengo	0	1	1
	5	Cruzeiro	2	0	2
															14	Boca Juniors	2	2	4
															1	Palmeiras	0	2	2
	16	Colo-Colo (a)	1	1	2
	6	Corinthians	0	2	2
								16	Colo-Colo	0	0	0
								1	Palmeiras	2	2	4
	9	Cerro Porteño	0	1	1
	1	Palmeiras	2	0	2
																						14	Boca Juniors	2	1	3
																						4	River Plate	2	3	5
	12	Independiente	3	0	3
	8	Santos	0	0	0
								12	Independiente	0	1	1
								4	River Plate	0	3	3
	10	Racing	0	0	0
	4	River Plate	0	3	3
															4	River Plate (a)	0	2	2
															2	Grêmio	1	1	2
	13	Atlético Tucumán	2	0	2
	7	Atlético Nacional	0	1	1
								13	Atlético Tucumán	0	0	0
								2	Grêmio	2	4	6
	15	Estudiantes	2	1	3 (3)
	2	Grêmio (p)	1	2	3 (5)

Round of 16

The first legs were played on 7–9 and 21 August, and the second legs were played on 28–30 August 2018. ^{[7] [8]}

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Racing	0–3	River Plate	0–0	0–3
Colo-Colo	2–2 (a)	Corinthians	1–0	1–2
Flamengo	1–2	Cruzeiro	0–2	1–0
Estudiantes	3–3 (3–5 p)	Grêmio	2–1	1–2
Atlético Tucumán	2–1	Atlético Nacional	2–0	0–1
Boca Juniors	6–2	Libertad	2–0	4–2
Cerro Porteño	1–2	Palmeiras	0–2	1–0
Independiente	3–0	Santos	3–0 [A]	0–0 [B]

Notes

1. ^
   CONMEBOL awarded Independiente a 3–0 win as a result of Santos fielding the ineligible player Carlos Sánchez. The match originally ended 0–0. ^[9]
2. ^
   Match abandoned after 81 minutes due to crowd trouble, with the score 0–0 at the time. ^[10]

Match A

9 August 2018 (2018-08-09)

19:30  UTC−3

Racing	0–0	River Plate
	Report

Estadio Presidente Juan Domingo Perón, Avellaneda

Referee: Anderson Daronco (Brazil)

---

29 August 2018 (2018-08-29)

19:30  UTC−3

River Plate	3–0	Racing
Pratto 10' Palacios 27' Borré 80'	Report

Estadio Monumental Antonio Vespucio Liberti, Buenos Aires

Referee: Mario Díaz de Vivar (Paraguay)

River Plate won 3–0 on aggregate and advanced to the quarterfinals (Match S1).

Match B

8 August 2018 (2018-08-08)

20:45  UTC−4

Colo-Colo	1–0	Corinthians
Carmona 37'	Report

Estadio Monumental David Arellano, Santiago

Referee: Wilmar Roldán (Colombia)

---

29 August 2018 (2018-08-29)

21:45  UTC−3

Corinthians	2–1	Colo-Colo
Jádson 16' (pen.) Roger 63'	Report	Barrios 31'

Arena Corinthians, São Paulo

Attendance: 38,112

Referee: Néstor Pitana (Argentina)

Tied 2–2 on aggregate, Colo-Colo won on away goals and advanced to the quarterfinals (Match S2).

Match C

8 August 2018 (2018-08-08)

21:45  UTC−3

Flamengo	0–2	Cruzeiro
	Report	De Arrascaeta 9' Thiago Neves 77'

Estádio do Maracanã, Rio de Janeiro

Attendance: 45,967

Referee: Néstor Pitana (Argentina)

---

29 August 2018 (2018-08-29)

21:45  UTC−3

Cruzeiro	0–1	Flamengo
	Report	Léo Duarte 69'

Estádio Mineirão, Belo Horizonte

Referee: Andrés Cunha (Uruguay)

Cruzeiro won 2–1 on aggregate and advanced to the quarterfinals (Match S3).

Match D

7 August 2018 (2018-08-07)

21:45  UTC−3

Estudiantes	2–1	Grêmio
Apaolaza 8' Campi 37'	Report	Kannemann 43'

Estadio Centenario Ciudad de Quilmes, Quilmes ^{[note 1]}

Referee: Andrés Cunha (Uruguay)

---

28 August 2018 (2018-08-28)

21:45  UTC−3

Grêmio	2–1	Estudiantes
Éverton 5' Alisson 90+2'	Report	Rodríguez 8'
Penalties
Maicon Éverton Jael Alisson André	5–3	Rodríguez Campi Noguera Lugüercio

Arena do Grêmio, Porto Alegre

Attendance: 48,082

Referee: Éber Aquino (Paraguay)

Tied 3–3 on aggregate, Grêmio won on penalties and advanced to the quarterfinals (Match S4).

Match E

9 August 2018 (2018-08-09)

21:45  UTC−3

Atlético Tucumán	2–0	Atlético Nacional
Díaz 7' Acosta 70'	Report

Estadio Monumental José Fierro, Tucumán

Referee: Éber Aquino (Paraguay)

---

28 August 2018 (2018-08-28)

19:45  UTC−5

Atlético Nacional	1–0	Atlético Tucumán
Duarte 11'	Report

Estadio Atanasio Girardot, Medellín

Referee: Roberto Tobar (Chile)

Atlético Tucumán won 2–1 on aggregate and advanced to the quarterfinals (Match S4).

Match F

8 August 2018 (2018-08-08)

19:30  UTC−3

Boca Juniors	2–0	Libertad
Ábila 6' Zárate 42'	Report

Estadio Alberto J. Armando, Buenos Aires

Referee: Wilton Sampaio (Brazil)

---

30 August 2018 (2018-08-30)

18:30  UTC−4

Libertad	2–4	Boca Juniors
Ó. Cardozo 11', 38' (pen.)	Report	Pavón 18' Zárate 21' Tévez 74' Cardona 79' (pen.)

Estadio Defensores del Chaco, Asunción ^{[note 2]}

Referee: Wilmar Roldán (Colombia)

Boca Juniors won 6–2 on aggregate and advanced to the quarterfinals (Match S3).

Match G

9 August 2018 (2018-08-09)

20:45  UTC−4

Cerro Porteño	0–2	Palmeiras
	Report	Borja 46', 70'

Estadio General Pablo Rojas, Asunción

Referee: Fernando Rapallini (Argentina)

---

30 August 2018 (2018-08-30)

21:45  UTC−3

Palmeiras	0–1	Cerro Porteño
	Report	Arzamendia 56'

Allianz Parque, São Paulo

Attendance: 33,204

Referee: Germán Delfino (Argentina)

Palmeiras won 2–1 on aggregate and advanced to the quarterfinals (Match S2).

Match H

21 August 2018 (2018-08-21)

21:45  UTC−3

Independiente	3–0 Awarded [9]	Santos
	Report

Estadio Libertadores de América, Avellaneda

Referee: Diego Haro (Peru)

---

28 August 2018 (2018-08-28)

19:30  UTC−3

Santos	0–0	Independiente
	Report

Estádio do Pacaembu, São Paulo ^{[note 3]}

Attendance: 33,642

Referee: Julio Bascuñán (Chile)

Independiente won 3–0 on aggregate and advanced to the quarterfinals (Match S1).

Quarter-finals

The first legs were played on 18–20 September, and the second legs were played on 2–4 October 2018. ^{[11] [12]}

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Independiente	1–3	River Plate	0–0	1–3
Colo-Colo	0–4	Palmeiras	0–2	0–2
Boca Juniors	3–1	Cruzeiro	2–0	1–1
Atlético Tucumán	0–6	Grêmio	0–2	0–4

Match S1

19 September 2018 (2018-09-19)

19:30  UTC−3

Independiente	0–0	River Plate
	Report

Estadio Libertadores de América, Avellaneda

Referee: Wilton Sampaio (Brazil)

---

2 October 2018 (2018-10-02)

19:30  UTC−3

River Plate	3–1	Independiente
Scocco 46' Quintero 68' Borré 84'	Report	S. Romero 54'

Estadio Monumental Antonio Vespucio Liberti, Buenos Aires

Referee: Anderson Daronco (Brazil)

River Plate won 3–1 on aggregate and advanced to the semifinals (Match F1).

Match S2

20 September 2018 (2018-09-20)

21:45  UTC−3

Colo-Colo	0–2	Palmeiras
	Report	Bruno Henrique 2' Dudu 77'

Estadio Monumental David Arellano, Santiago

Referee: Andrés Cunha (Uruguay)

---

3 October 2018 (2018-10-03)

21:45  UTC−3

Palmeiras	2–0	Colo-Colo
Dudu 36' Borja 52' (pen.)	Report

Allianz Parque, São Paulo

Attendance: 37,950

Referee: Wilmar Roldán (Colombia)

Palmeiras won 4–0 on aggregate and advanced to the semifinals (Match F2).

Match S3

19 September 2018 (2018-09-19)

21:45  UTC−3

Boca Juniors	2–0	Cruzeiro
Zárate 35' Pérez 81'	Report

Estadio Alberto J. Armando, Buenos Aires

Referee: Éber Aquino (Paraguay)

---

4 October 2018 (2018-10-04)

21:45  UTC−3

Cruzeiro	1–1	Boca Juniors
Sassá 57'	Report	Pavón 90+3'

Estádio Mineirão, Belo Horizonte

Attendance: 56,791

Referee: Andrés Cunha (Uruguay)

Boca Juniors won 3–1 on aggregate and advanced to the semifinals (Match F2).

Match S4

18 September 2018 (2018-09-18)

21:45  UTC−3

Atlético Tucumán	0–2	Grêmio
	Report	Alisson 34' Éverton 54'

Estadio Monumental José Fierro, Tucumán

Referee: Wilmar Roldán (Colombia)

---

2 October 2018 (2018-10-02)

21:45  UTC−3

Grêmio	4–0	Atlético Tucumán
Luan 35' Cícero 44' (pen.) Mercier 52' (o.g.) Jael 90+1' (pen.)	Report

Arena do Grêmio, Porto Alegre

Attendance: 47,304

Referee: Roberto Tobar (Chile)

Grêmio won 6–0 on aggregate and advanced to the semifinals (Match F1).

Semi-finals

The first legs were played on 23–24 October, and the second legs were played on 30–31 October 2018. ^{[13] [14]}

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
River Plate	2–2 (a)	Grêmio	0–1	2–1
Boca Juniors	4–2	Palmeiras	2–0	2–2

Match F1

23 October 2018 (2018-10-23)

21:45  UTC−3

River Plate	0–1	Grêmio
	Report	Michel 61'

Estadio Monumental Antonio Vespucio Liberti, Buenos Aires

Referee: Víctor Carrillo (Peru)

---

30 October 2018 (2018-10-30)

21:45  UTC−3

Grêmio	1–2	River Plate
Léo Gomes 35'	Report	Borré 81' Martínez 90+4' (pen.)

Arena do Grêmio, Porto Alegre

Attendance: 53,571

Referee: Andrés Cunha (Uruguay)

Tied 2–2 on aggregate, River Plate won on away goals and advanced to the finals.

Match F2

24 October 2018 (2018-10-24)

21:45  UTC−3

Boca Juniors	2–0	Palmeiras
Benedetto 83', 87'	Report

Estadio Alberto J. Armando, Buenos Aires

Referee: Roberto Tobar (Chile)

---

31 October 2018 (2018-10-31)

21:45  UTC−3

Palmeiras	2–2	Boca Juniors
Luan 52' Gómez 60' (pen.)	Report	Ábila 17' Benedetto 69'

Allianz Parque, São Paulo

Attendance: 40,299

Referee: Wilmar Roldán (Colombia)

Boca Juniors won 4–2 on aggregate and advanced to the finals.

Finals

Main article: 2018 Copa Libertadores Finals

In the finals, if tied on aggregate, the away goals rule was not used, and 30 minutes of extra time were played. If still tied after extra time, a penalty shoot-out was used to determine the winner (Regulations Article 30). ^[2]

The first leg was played on 11 November (originally scheduled on 10 November, but postponed due to rain), and the second leg was played on 9 December 2018 (originally scheduled on 24 November, but postponed due to safety concerns following an attack on the Boca Juniors team bus prior to the original scheduled match). ^{[15] [16]}

11 November 2018 (2018-11-11) ^{[note 4]}

16:00  UTC−3

Boca Juniors	2–2	River Plate
Ábila 34' Benedetto 45+1'	Report	Pratto 35' Izquierdoz 61' (o.g.)

Estadio Alberto J. Armando, Buenos Aires

Attendance: 49,000

Referee: Roberto Tobar (Chile)

---

9 December 2018 (2018-12-09) ^{[note 5]}

20:30  UTC+1

River Plate	3–1 (a.e.t.)	Boca Juniors
Pratto 68' Quintero 109' G. Martínez 120+2'	Report	Benedetto 44'

Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid ^{[note 6]}

Attendance: 62,282

Referee: Andrés Cunha (Uruguay)

River Plate won 5–3 on aggregate.

Notes

1. Estudiantes played their home match against Grêmio at Estadio Centenario Ciudad de Quilmes, Quilmes, instead of their regular stadium Estadio Ciudad de La Plata, La Plata.
2. Libertad played their home match against Boca Juniors at Estadio Defensores del Chaco, Asunción, instead of their regular stadium Estadio Dr. Nicolás Léoz, Asunción.
3. Santos played their home match against Independiente at Estádio do Pacaembu, São Paulo, instead of their regular stadium Estádio Urbano Caldeira, Santos.
4. The Boca Juniors v River Plate match, originally scheduled on 10 November 2018, 17:00  UTC−3, was postponed to the following day due to a waterlogged pitch. ^[17]
5. The River Plate v Boca Juniors match, originally scheduled on 24 November 2018, 17:00  UTC−3, was postponed to 9 December 2018 due to an attack on the Boca Juniors team bus when several players were injured. ^[18]
6. The River Plate v Boca Juniors match, originally scheduled to be hosted by River Plate at the Estadio Monumental Antonio Vespucio Liberti, Buenos Aires, took place in Spain at the Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid due to safety concerns. ^[19]

References

1. "EL CALENDARIO DE AMBOS TORNEOS" (PDF). CONMEBOL.com.
2. "Reglamento CONMEBOL Libertadores 2018" (PDF) (in Spanish). CONMEBOL.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-05-16. Retrieved 2017-12-31.
3. "CONMEBOL Libertadores 2018, SISTEMA DE SORTEO – Octavos de Final". CONMEBOL.com. 31 May 2018.
4. "El 4 de junio se sortean los Octavos de la Libertadores y Segunda Fase de la Sudamericana". CONMEBOL.com. 19 April 2018.
5. "Cruces estelares tras el sorteo de los Octavos de Final". CONMEBOL.com. 4 June 2018.
6. "CONMEBOL Libertadores 2018, SISTEMA DE SORTEO – Octavos de Final" (PDF). CONMEBOL.com.
7. "Calendario de partidos de los octavos de final". CONMEBOL.com. 5 June 2018.
8. "Fixture de partidos - Octavos de Final - Ida y Vuelta" (PDF). CONMEBOL.com.
9. "El Tribunal de Disciplina emite Fallo ante reclamo presentado por el Club Atlético Independiente" (in Spanish). CONMEBOL.com. 28 August 2018.
10. "Copa Libertadores game abandoned after Santos fans protest against 3-0 penalty imposed just before match". BBC Sport. 29 August 2018.
11. "Programación de Cuartos de Final de la CONMEBOL Libertadores". CONMEBOL.com. 31 August 2018.
12. "PROGRAMA DE PARTIDOS - CUARTOS DE FINAL" (PDF). CONMEBOL.com.
13. "Las semfinales tienen calendario definido". CONMEBOL.com. 5 October 2018.
14. "PROGRAMA DE PARTIDOS - SEMIFINALES" (PDF). CONMEBOL.com.
15. "Las finales de la CONMEBOL Libertadores se disputarán el 10 y 24 de noviembre". CONMEBOL.com. 1 November 2018.
16. "Confirmados los horarios y fechas de los partidos finales de la CONMEBOL Libertadores 2018". CONMEBOL.com. 5 November 2018.
17. "Boca Juniors vs River Plate: titanic Copa Liberadores final postponed by 24 hours due to heavy rain" . The Independent . Independent Print Limited. 10 November 2018. Archived from the original on 1 May 2022. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
18. "Copa Libertadores: Boca Juniors against River Plate match postponed again". BBC Sport . British Broadcasting Corporation. 25 November 2018. Retrieved 25 November 2018.
19. "Final de la CONMEBOL Libertadores 2018 se jugará el domingo 9 de diciembre en el Santiago Bernabéu de Madrid" [Final of the 2018 CONMEBOL Libertadores will be played on Sunday, 9 December at the Santiago Bernabéu in Madrid]. CONMEBOL (in Spanish). Luque. 29 November 2018. Retrieved 29 November 2018.

External links

• CONMEBOL Libertadores 2018, CONMEBOL.com