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The 1996 Copa Libertadores final stages were played from 30 April to 26 June 1996 and consisted of the round of 16 (or second stage), quarter-finals, semi-finals and the finals. A total of 16 teams competed in the final stages to decide the champions of the 1996 Copa Libertadores.

Qualified teams

The winners, runners-up and third placed teams of each of the five groups in the group stage advanced to the round of 16, alongside defending champions Grêmio, who received a direct bye to this round.

Group	Winners	Runners-up	Third-placed teams
1	Barcelona	Cerro Porteño	ESPOLI
2	Peñarol	Defensor Sporting	Sporting Cristal
3	América de Cali	Junior	San José
4	Corinthians	Universidad de Chile	Botafogo
5	River Plate	San Lorenzo	Minervén

Seeding

In the final stages, the teams were seeded according to the pre-established numbering they received according to the final position they occupied in their respective group. Numbers 1, 5, 9, 13 and 17 correspond to each group winners; numbers 2, 6, 10, 14 and 18 to runners-up; and 3, 7, 11, 15 and 19 to third placed teams.

Seed	Grp	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Round of 16
1	1	Barcelona	6	4	1	1	11	8	+3	13	Match A
2	1	Cerro Porteño	6	3	1	2	8	7	+1	10	Match F
3	1	ESPOLI	6	2	0	4	7	10	−3	6	Match D
5	2	Peñarol	6	2	3	1	13	10	+3	9	Match B
6	2	Defensor Sporting	6	1	4	1	6	6	0	7	Match G
7	2	Sporting Cristal	6	1	4	1	6	7	−1	7	Match E
9	3	América de Cali	6	4	0	2	11	2	+9	12	Match C
10	3	Junior	6	3	1	2	8	6	+2	10	Match F
11	3	San José	6	3	0	3	6	6	0	9	Match A
13	4	Corinthians	6	4	1	1	13	6	+7	13	Match D
14	4	Universidad de Chile	6	3	1	2	7	7	0	10	Match G
15	4	Botafogo	6	2	1	3	10	10	0	7	Match B
17	5	River Plate	6	4	2	0	14	3	+11	14	Match E
18	5	San Lorenzo	6	2	4	0	13	5	+8	10	Match H
19	5	Minervén	6	1	2	3	8	16	−8	5	Match C

Format

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

• In the round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals, each tie was played on a home-and-away two-legged basis. If tied on points after the two legs the goal difference would be applied. if still tied, extra time was not played, and a penalty shoot-out was used to determine the winners.
• In the event that the two Brazilian teams from the group stage qualify for the round of 16, the lower-seeded team between these two would face defending champion Grêmio in order to prevent three Brazilian teams from reaching the quarter-finals.
• If two teams from the same national association reached the quarter-finals, they had to face each other, and those teams that had to face them formed another tie under the same conditions.
• If one or more games are settled in the quarter-finals between clubs belonging to the same national association, the Match S1 would correspond to the pair including the lower-seeding team. The following matches would be determined according to the same criteria.
• In all cases in which the order of legs could not be determined, the lower-seeding team had to host the first leg. Defending champions Vélez Sarsfield had to host the second leg in the round of 16.

The above criteria were established to ensure that the four semifinalists would be of different nationalities (Regulations Section III, Article 3).

Bracket

The original bracket for the final stages was determined as follows:

Per regulations, the original bracket had the following modifications:

• In the round of 16, Botafogo and San Lorenzo swapped positions. Botafogo had to faced Grêmio in order to avoid three possible Brazilians teams in the quarter-finals.
• In quarter-finals, the two Colombian teams, the two Brazilians teams and the two Argentine teams had to face each other, and the order of the ties was rearranged according to the regulations.

	Round of 16							Quarter-finals							Semi-finals							Finals
	3	ESPOLI	1	0	1
	13	Corinthians	3	2	5
								Corinthians		0	1	1
								Grêmio		3	0	3
	15	Botafogo	1	0	1
	–	Grêmio	1	2	3
															Grêmio		1	1	2
															América de Cali		0	3	3
	2	Cerro Porteño	0	0	0
	10	Junior	0	1	1
								Junior		1	0	1
								América de Cali		1	1	2
	19	Minervén	1	1	2
	9	América de Cali	1	4	5
																						América de Cali		1	0	1
																						River Plate		0	2	2
	14	Universidad de Chile (p)	3	1	4 (7)
	6	Defensor Sporting	2	2	4 (6)
								Universidad de Chile		2	1	3
								Barcelona		0	1	1
	11	San José	1	1	2 (2)
	1	Barcelona (p)	0	2	2 (4)
															Universidad de Chile		2	0	2
															River Plate		2	1	3
	18	San Lorenzo	3	5	8
	5	Peñarol	2	1	3
								San Lorenzo		1	1	2
								River Plate		2	1	3
	7	Sporting Cristal	2	2	4
	17	River Plate	1	5	6

Round of 16

The first legs were played on 30 April, 1 and 2 May. and the second legs were played on 8 and 9 May 1996.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
San José	2–2 (2–4 p)	Barcelona	1–0	1–2
San Lorenzo	8–3	Peñarol	3–2	5–1
Minervén	2–5	América de Cali	1–1	1–4
ESPOLI	1–5	Corinthians	1–3	0–2
Sporting Cristal	4–6	River Plate	2–1	2–5
Cerro Porteño	0–1	Junior	0–0	0–1
Universidad de Chile	4–4 (7–6 p)	Defensor Sporting	3–2	1–2
Botafogo	1–3	Grêmio	1–1	0–2

Match A

San José	1–0	Barcelona
Ferrufino 7'	Report

Barcelona	2–1	San José
Gilson 67' Tenorio 89'	Report	Rivera 82'
Penalties
Gilson Uquillas Villarreal Usuriaga Morales	4–2	Paniagua Villegas Herrera Daza

Tied 2–2 on aggregate, Barcelona won on penalties and advanced to the quarter-finals (Match S4).

Match B

San Lorenzo	3–2	Peñarol
Arbarello 40' Ruggeri 66' Biaggio 74'	Report	Romero 48' Aguirregaray 89'

Peñarol	1–5	San Lorenzo
Pacheco 54'	Report	Biaggio 19', 66' Monserrat 28', 90' Arbarello 87'

San Lorenzo won 8–3 on aggregate and advanced to the quarter-finals (Match S3).

Match C

Minervén	1–1	América de Cali
Are 48'	Report	Escobar 13' (pen.)

América de Cali	4–1	Minervén
De Ávila 5', 60', 73' Zambrano 54'	Report	Rodallega 87'

América de Cali won 5–2 on aggregate and advanced to the quarter-finals (Match S1).

Match D

ESPOLI	1–3	Corinthians
Jauch 2'	Report	Cris 4' Ballesteros 44' (o.g.) García 75' (o.g.)

Corinthians	2–0	ESPOLI
Marcelinho Carioca 26' Tupãzinho 62'	Report

Corinthians won 5–1 on aggregate and advanced to the quarter-finals (Match S2).

Match E

Sporting Cristal	2–1	River Plate
Solano 18' (pen.) Julinho 36'	Report	Crespo 87'

River Plate	5–2	Sporting Cristal
Crespo 4', 30' Francescoli 22' Ortega 33' Cedrés 69'	Report	Solano 48' (pen.) Julinho 56'

River Plate won 6–4 on aggregate and advanced to the quarter-finals (Match S3).

Match F

Cerro Porteño	0–0	Junior
	Report

Junior	1–0	Cerro Porteño
Valenciano 36'	Report

Junior won 1–0 on aggregate and advanced to the quarter-finals (Match S1).

Match G

Universidad de Chile	3–2	Defensor Sporting
Rodriguez 20' (pen.) Salas 30' Valencia 33'	Report	Abreu 18', 66'

Defensor Sporting	2–1	Universidad de Chile
Abreu 16', 48' (pen.)	Report	Rodriguez 27'
Penalties
Abreu Chilelli Romay Da Silva Hernández Silva Fleurquín Dos Santos	6–7	Rodriguez Salas V. Castañeda Mardones Galdames Silvani Traverso Fuentes

Tied 4–4 on aggregate, Universidad de Chile won on penalties and advanced to the quarter-finals (Match S4).

Match H

Botafogo	1–1	Grêmio
Jamir 66'	Report	Jardel 71'

Grêmio	2–0	Botafogo
Luciano Dias 4' Carlos Miguel 63'	Report

Grêmio won 3–1 on aggregate and advanced to the quarter-finals (Match S2).

Quarter-finals

The first legs were played on 15 May, and the second legs were played on 22 and 24 May 1996.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Junior	1–2	América de Cali	1–1	0–1
Corinthians	1–3	Grêmio	0–3	1–0
San Lorenzo	2–3	River Plate	1–2	1–1
Universidad de Chile	3–1	Barcelona	2–0	1–1

Match S1

Junior	1–1	América de Cali
Valenciano 56'	Report	Pérez 25'

América de Cali	1–0	Junior
De Ávila 57'	Report

América de Cali won 2–1 on aggregate and advanced to the semi-finals (Match F1).

Match S2

Corinthians	0–3	Grêmio
	Report	Jardel 14', 50' Paulo Nunes 43'

Grêmio	0–1	Corinthians
	Report	Edmundo 90'

Grêmio won 3–1 on aggregate and advanced to the semi-finals (Match F1).

Match S3

San Lorenzo	1–2	River Plate
Ruggeri 42'	Report	Crespo 3' Ortega 80'

River Plate	1–1	San Lorenzo
Crespo 55'	Report	Ruggeri 82'

River Plate won 3–2 on aggregate and advanced to the semi-finals (Match F2).

Match S4

Universidad de Chile	2–0	Barcelona
Salas 77' V. Castañeda 81'	Report

Barcelona	1–1	Universidad de Chile
Uquillas 56'	Report	Mardones 90'

Universidad de Chile won 3–1 on aggregate and advanced to the semi-finals (Match F2).

Semi-finals

The first legs were played on 9 August, and the second legs were played on 16 August 1995.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Grêmio	2–3	América de Cali	1–0	1–3
Universidad de Chile	2–3	River Plate	2–2	0–1

Match F1

Grêmio	1–0	América de Cali
Goiano 31'	Report

América de Cali	3–1	Grêmio
Bermúdez 39', 81' Escobar 56'	Report	Jardel 16'

América de Cali won 3–2 on aggregate and advanced to the finals.

Match F2

Universidad de Chile	2–2	River Plate
Valencia 25' Salas 89'	Report	Francescoli 23' Sorín 79'

River Plate	1–0	Universidad de Chile
Almeyda 33'	Report

River Plate won 3–2 on aggregate and advanced to the finals.

Finals

The first leg was played on 19 June, and the second leg was played on 26 June 1996.

América de Cali	1–0	River Plate
de Ávila 26'	Report

River Plate	2–0	América de Cali
Crespo 6', 59'	Report

River Plate won 2–1 on aggregate.

References

1. "Revista CONMEBOL N° 43" (PDF) (in Spanish). CONMEBOL. Retrieved 21 March 2023.

External links

• Copa Libertadores de América 1996, at RSSSF.org

• April 1996 sports events in South America
• May 1996 sports events in South America