1996 Copa Libertadores group stage

The 1996 Copa Libertadores group stage or 1996 Copa Libertadores first stage was played from 13 March to 17 April 1996. A total of 20 teams competed in the group stage to decide 15 places in the final stages of the 1996 Copa Libertadores, where they joined defending champions Grêmio.

Groups composition

Same as previous editions, the 20 participating teams were divided into 5 groups of 4, which consisted of two teams from one national association and two teams from another. The draw of the tournament was held on 3 November 1995 in Asunción, Paraguay and the paired associations for this edition were as follows:^[1]

Group 1: Paraguay and Ecuador
Group 2: Uruguay and Peru
Group 3: Bolivia and Colombia
Group 4: Brazil and Chile
Group 5: Argentina and Venezuela

Format

In the group stage, each group was played on a home-and-away round-robin basis. The teams were ranked according to the following criteria: 1. Points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, and 0 points for a loss); 2. Goal difference; 3. Goals scored; 4. Away goals scored; 5. Drawing of lots.

As of this edition, the extra game that was played to define the positions between teams from the same national association in case of a tie in points was no longer held. Therefore, the above criteria were applied to all teams regardless of the national association to which they belong.

The winners, runners-up and third placed teams of each group advanced to the round of 16 of the final stages.

Groups

Group 1

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	BAR	CCP	ESP	OLI
1	Barcelona	6	4	1	1	11	8	+3	13	Round of 16	—	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	—

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

13 March 1996

--:-- UTC−5

Barcelona	3–2	ESPOLI
Gómez 52' Alfaro 56' Noriega 80'	Report	Jauch 47' Oleas 51'

Estadio Monumental Isidro Romero Carbo, Guayaquil

Attendance: 35,000

Referee: Ángel Guevara (Ecuador)

13 March 1996

--:-- UTC−3

Olimpia	1–2	Cerro Porteño
Bourdier 29'	Report	Núñez 33' Villamayor 78'

Estadio Defensores del Chaco, Asunción

Attendance: 12,000

Referee: Ubaldo Aquino (Paraguay)

19 March 1996

--:-- UTC−5

ESPOLI	1–0	Olimpia
Oleas 34'	Report

Estadio Olímpico Atahualpa, Quito

Attendance: 10,000

Referee: John Toro (Colombia)

22 March 1996

--:-- UTC−5

Barcelona	2–1	Olimpia
Makanaky 19' Alfaro 86'	Report	Bourdier 26'

Estadio Monumental Isidro Romero Carbo, Guayaquil

Attendance: 20,000

Referee: Armando Pérez (Colombia)

26 March 1996

--:-- UTC−5

ESPOLI	2–1	Cerro Porteño
Rivera 74', 87'	Report	Ferreira 34'

Estadio Olímpico Atahualpa, Quito

Attendance: 10,000

Referee: José Arana (Peru)

29 March 1996

--:-- UTC−5

Barcelona	3–2	Cerro Porteño
Sarabia 1' (o.g.) Morales 69' (pen.) Alfaro 85'	Report	Espinoza 9' Villamayor 56'

Estadio Monumental Isidro Romero Carbo, Guayaquil

Attendance: 70,000

Referee: Alberto Tejada (Peru)

3 April 1996

--:-- UTC−5

ESPOLI	1–2	Barcelona
Zambrano 67'	Report	Gilson 80', 86'

Estadio Olímpico Atahualpa, Quito

Attendance: 35,000

Referee: Rafael Hormazábal (Chile)

3 April 1996

--:-- UTC−3

Cerro Porteño	0–0	Olimpia
	Report

Estadio Defensores del Chaco, Asunción

Referee: Óscar Velázquez (Paraguay)

9 April 1996

--:-- UTC−3

Cerro Porteño	2–1	ESPOLI
Ferreira 16' Núñez 87' (pen.)	Report	Yépez 37'

Estadio General Pablo Rojas, Asunción

Referee: Daniel Giménez (Argentina)

12 April 1996

--:-- UTC−3

Olimpia	2–0	ESPOLI
Sotelo 58', 65'	Report

Estadio Defensores del Chaco, Asunción

Referee: Horacio Elizondo (Argentina)

16 April 1996

--:-- UTC−3

Cerro Porteño	1–0	Barcelona
Cristaldo 85'	Report

Estadio General Pablo Rojas, Asunción

Attendance: 6,000

Referee: Sidrack Marinho dos Santos (Brazil)

19 April 1996

--:-- UTC−3

Olimpia	1–1	Barcelona
Bourdier 2' (pen.)	Report	Usuriaga 71'

Estadio Defensores del Chaco, Asunción

Referee: Antônio Pereira (Brazil)

Group 2

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	PEÑ	DFS	SCR	UNI
1	Peñarol	6	2	3	1	13	10	+3	9	Round of 16	—	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	—

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

13 March 1996

--:-- UTC−5

Sporting Cristal	0–2	Universitario
	Report	González 9' Ferrari 62'

Estadio Nacional, Lima

Attendance: 11,000

Referee: César Córdova (Peru)

18 March 1996

--:-- UTC−3

Defensor Sporting	2–4	Peñarol
Jorjão 32' Ra. Dos Santos 43'	Report	Soca 19' Romero 27', 68' (pen.) Sosa 85'

Estadio Centenario, Montevideo

Attendance: 16,000

Referee: Saúl Feldman (Uruguay)

23 March 1996

--:-- UTC−5

Universitario	1–3	Peñarol
Gonzales 67'	Report	Pacheco 48' Tais 51' Bengoechea 84'

Estadio Nacional, Lima

Attendance: 25,000

Referee: Márcio Rezende (Brazil)

26 March 1996

--:-- UTC−5

Sporting Cristal	3–3	Peñarol
Zegarra 50', 68' Julinho 75'	Report	Magallanes 14' Bengoechea 32' Tais 55'

Estadio Nacional, Lima

Attendance: 16,856

Referee: João Paulo Araújo (Brazil)

30 March 1996

--:-- UTC−5

Universitario	1–1	Defensor Sporting
Carazas 55'	Report	Ra. Dos Santos 52'

Estadio Nacional, Lima

Referee: Pablo Peña (Bolivia)

2 April 1996

--:-- UTC−5

Sporting Cristal	0–0	Defensor Sporting
	Report

Estadio Nacional, Lima

Referee: René Ortube (Bolivia)

7 April 1996

--:-- UTC−5

Universitario	1–2	Sporting Cristal
Rossi 26'	Report	Solano 61' Palacios 71'

Estadio Nacional, Lima

Attendance: 21,970

Referee: José Arana (Peru)

7 April 1996

--:-- UTC−3

Peñarol	1–1	Defensor Sporting
Bengoechea 64' (pen.)	Report	Ru. dos Santos 59'

Estadio Centenario, Montevideo

Attendance: 33,700

Referee: Daniel Bello (Uruguay)

12 April 1996

--:-- UTC−3

Defensor Sporting	2–0	Universitario
Abreu 24', 44'	Report

Estadio Gran Parque Central, Montevideo

Attendance: 5,000

Referee: Eduardo Gamboa (Chile)

13 April 1996

--:-- UTC−3

Peñarol	1–1	Sporting Cristal
Romero 43'	Report	Palacios 14'

Estadio Centenario, Montevideo

Attendance: 19,000

Referee: Luis Peña (Chile)

16 April 1996

--:-- UTC−3

Peñarol	1–2	Universitario
Magallanes 7'	Report	Carazas 3' Gonzales 67'

Estadio Centenario, Montevideo

Attendance: 32,200

Referee: Ubaldo Aquino (Paraguay)

17 April 1996

--:-- UTC−3

Defensor Sporting	0–0	Sporting Cristal
	Report

Estadio Gran Parque Central, Montevideo

Attendance: 4,000

Referee: Óscar Velázquez (Paraguay)

Group 3

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	AME	JUN	SJO	GUA
1	América de Cali	6	4	0	2	11	2	+9	12	Round of 16	—	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	—

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

13 March 1996

--:-- UTC−5

Junior	1–0	América de Cali
Pacheco 27'	Report

Estadio Metropolitano Roberto Meléndez, Barranquilla

Attendance: 31,500

Referee: Dalmo Bozzano (Brazil)

13 March 1996

Groups composition

Format

Groups

Group 1

Group 2

Group 3

Group 4

Group 5

References

External links