Comenzó la copa Libertadores de América (SPA-ENG)

The Libertadores of América Cup began

The most important international club tournament in America has begun a new edition and although it is mentioned that in these lands there is not the same level as in Europe and therefore, they are better, reality shows that European football is full of Latin Americans, Asians and Africans who come out of local leagues and competitions like this.

This cup has been played since 1960. Until 2004, its winner obtained the right to play the Intercontinental Cup against the winner of Europe, under the format of a round-trip match and a tiebreaker (if necessary) in a neutral country. International competition lasted until 1979 and then became a single party based in Japan. Starting in 2005, it was renamed the FIFA World Club Championship and is contested by the 6 winners of the main international tournament of each regional confederation affiliated with FIFA. Among these teams is the champion of the Libertadores de América cup.

The biggest winner of the Copa Libertadores is Independiente de Avellaneda with 7 titles, followed by Boca Juniors with 6 and Peñarol de Montevideo with 5, River Plate and Estudiantes de la Plata have 4 titles each. Surprisingly, no Brazilian teams have more than 3 titles, although they have won the last 5 editions consecutively.

Historically, this Copa Libertadores is played by the champions and some of those who follow them in the standings of the tournaments of each country and also by tradition, those with the greatest representation are Brazil and Argentina with 5 teams each, the rest of the participating countries only have 2. To these are added the current champion and the champion of the South American Cup, there is also a series of 3 previous phases that classify 4 teams to make up the 32 that make up the current format of this group phase that is divided into 8 zones of 4 teams each.

The Argentine teams that make up this edition are: River Plate, San Lorenzo de Almagro, Estudiantes de la Plata, Rosario Central, and Talleres de Córdoba, and the start has been encouraging, none of them lost, River, Rosario Central, and Talleres won their commitments while Estudiantes and San Lorenzo tied.

The Brazilian teams did not suffer the same fate, Fluminense, Flamengo, and Palmeiras tied, Sao Paulo, Botafogo, and Gremio lost, and only Atlético Mineiro emerged victorious in their match against Caracas.

The South American Cup has also started and the behavior is repeated here, the Argentine teams have had an outstanding performance, just like in the Libertadores, none of them have lost their first game.

In any case, it is only the first match of two long and historically highly contested tournaments, there is still a lot of fabric to cut, my grandmother would say.

I will keep you informed of the progress.