The Copa Libertadores 2008 , from this year also Copa Santander Libertadores due to a new sponsorship agreement with the Santander banking group , was the 49th edition of the most important South American football competition for club teams. As in the previous year, 38 teams from the 10 member associations of CONMEBOL and from Mexico took part. Due to a sponsorship agreement with the Santander banking group , the event will be officially called Copa Santander Libertadores for the next five years . With LDU Quito , a club from Ecuador won the tournament for the first time. The tournament began on January 29th with the qualifying round and ended on July 2nd with the final second leg.
If there was a tie in the group stage, the goal difference was decisive for progress, then the number of goals scored, then the number of goals scored away. If these are also the same, the lot was decided in the group stage, and a penalty shoot-out in the knockout rounds. Only in the final was there an extra time before the penalty shoot-out if the score was tied after the first and second leg .
qualification
The worst-placed teams in each country based on the qualification criteria of the respective countries carried out a qualification for the group stage between January 29 and February 12, 2008. Since Argentina, in addition to its five eligible teams, also provided the additionally qualified defending champion, two teams from this country had to go into the qualifying round. The away goal rule applied .
* The second leg between Cerro Porteño and Cruzeiro EC was canceled in the 65th minute.
Group stage
The given date refers to the local time. Many games in South America take place in the evening, which corresponds to the early morning hours of the following day in Central Europe.
The first and second in each group qualified for the round of 16.
The games were not drawn, but determined by a seeding list. The eight group winners were given start numbers 1 to 8 according to their ranking, so the best group winner received 1, the second best group winner received 2, etc. The eight runners-up were given start numbers 9 to 16. In the round of 16 then played 1 - 16, 2 - 15, 3 - 14 ..., so the best group first against the worst group second etc.
The following games therefore came about. The first legs were played between April 29 and May 1, 2008, the second legs between May 6 and 8, 2008. The first-named team had home rights in the first leg, the other in the second leg.
The semi-finals took place on May 28 and 29 and June 4 and 5, 2008 respectively. The former team had home rights in the first leg, the other in the second leg. The away goal rule applied .
The final of the Copa Libertadores was played back and forth, with the away goals rule being suspended in contrast to the rest of the tournament . The final was also the only round in which there was extra time .
The first leg took place on June 25 at the Estadio La Casa Blanca in Quito, the second leg was played on July 2 at the Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro. Both teams were in the final of the competition for the first time. They were also together in preliminary group 8 and separated here in Quito 0-0; Fluminense won 1-0 in Rio de Janeiro.
Finally, after 4: 2 and 1: 3 there was a penalty shoot-out in which the Ecuadorian national goalkeeper José Francisco Cevallos, who had already stood in the 1998 Copa Libertadores final with Barcelona SC Guayaquil, saved three penalties and thus became a hero in all of Ecuador has been. Liga Deportiva is also qualified for the FIFA Club World Cup 2008 in Japan with the Copa .
CA Lanus
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Club Cerro Porteño
Mineros de Guiana
La Paz FC
Montevideo Wanderers
Audax Italiano
1-0 Claudio Bieler (2nd) 
Enrique Vera (22nd), Claudio Bieler (39th), Norberto Araujo (60th)
José Cevallos holds against Darío Conca 
1: 1 Cícero 
Luiz Alberto (120th)
