1988 Copa Libertadores de América

Tournament details
Dates	June 29 – October 26
Teams	21 (from 10 associations)
Final positions
Champions	Nacional (3rd title)
Runners-up	Newell's Old Boys
Tournament statistics
Matches played	83
Goals scored	170 (2.05 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Arnoldo Iguarán (5)

The 1988 Copa Libertadores de América was the 29th edition of the Copa Libertadores, South America's premier international club football tournament organized by CONMEBOL. This season's defending champion Peñarol of Uruguay were defeated by San Lorenzo of Argentina. In the finals, Nacional defeated Newell's Old Boys.

Qualified teams

Country	Team	Qualification method
CONMEBOL (1 berth)	Peñarol	1987 Copa Libertadores champion
Argentina (2 berths)	Newell's Old Boys	1987–88 Primera División champion
	San Lorenzo	1987–88 Liguilla Pre-Libertadores winner
Bolivia (2 berths)	Bolívar	1987 Primera División champion
	Oriente Petrolero	1987 Primera División runner-up
Brazil (2 berths)	Sport Recife	1987 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A champion
	Guarani	1987 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A runner-up
Chile (2 berths)	Universidad Católica	1987 Primera División champion
	Colo-Colo	1987 Liguilla Pre-Libertadores winner
Colombia (2 berths)	Millonarios	1987 Campeonato Profesional champion
	América de Cali	1987 Campeonato Profesional runner-up
Ecuador (2 berths)	Barcelona	1987 Campeonato Ecuatoriano champion
	Filanbanco	1987 Campeonato Ecuatoriano runner-up
Paraguay (2 berths)	Cerro Porteño	1987 Primera División champion
	Olimpia	1987 Primera División runner-up
Peru (2 berths)	Universitario	1987 Primera División champion
	Alianza Lima	1987 Primera División runner-up
Uruguay (2 berths)	Montevideo Wanderers	1987 Liguilla Pre-Libertadores winner
	Nacional	1987 Liguilla Pre-Libertadores runner-up
Venezuela (2 berths)	Marítimo	1986–87 Primera División champion
	Unión Atlético Táchira	1986–87 Primera División runner-up

Draw

The champions and runners-up of each football association were drawn into the same group along with another football association's participating teams. Three clubs from Uruguay competed as Peñarol was champion of the 1987 Copa Libertadores. They entered the tournament in the third stage.

First stage

Group 1

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts		UCA	COL	MAR	TAC
1	Universidad Católica	6	4	2	0	9	4	+5	10		—	1–0	2–1	3–1
2	Colo-Colo	6	4	1	1	7	3	+4	9		2–2	—	1–0	2–0
3	Marítimo	6	0	3	3	2	5	−3	3		0–0	0–1	—	1–1
4	Unión Atlético Táchira	6	0	2	4	2	8	−6	2		0–1	0–1	0–0	—

Source:

Group 2

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts		NOB	SLO	BAR	FIL
1	Newell's Old Boys	6	2	4	0	5	1	+4	8		—	0–0	3–0	1–0
2	San Lorenzo	6	3	2	1	6	4	+2	8		0–0	—	2–1	2–0
3	Barcelona	6	3	1	2	9	8	+1	7		0–0	2–0	—	4–2
4	Filanbanco	6	0	1	5	5	12	−7	1		1–1	1–2	1–2	—

Source:

Tie-breaker

Newell's Old Boys and San Lorenzo played an extra match to determine the winner of the group.

August 7, 1988

--:--

Newell's Old Boys	1–0	San Lorenzo
Ramos ?'

El Coloso del Parque, Rosario

Group 3

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts		ACA	NAC	MIL	MWA
1	América de Cali	6	4	1	1	8	6	+2	9		—	0–0	2–1	1–0
2	Nacional	6	3	2	1	8	7	+1	8		2–0	—	4–1	1–0
3	Millonarios	6	2	0	4	14	12	+2	4		2–3	6–1	—	3–0
4	Montevideo Wanderers	6	1	1	4	3	8	−5	3		1–2	0–0	2–1	—

Source:

Group 4

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts		OPE	BOL	CPO	OLI
1	Oriente Petrolero	6	3	1	2	8	8	0	7		—	1–3	2–2	1–0
2	Bolívar	6	3	0	3	12	10	+2	6		1–2	—	2–0	2–0
3	Cerro Porteño	6	2	2	2	6	7	−1	6		1–0	3–2	—	0–0
4	Olimpia	6	2	1	3	6	7	−1	5		1–2	4–2	1–0	—

Source:

Group 5

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts		GUA	UNI	REC	ALI
1	Guarani	6	3	2	1	9	5	+4	8		—	1–1	4–1	1–0
2	Universitario	6	2	4	0	5	2	+3	8		1–1	—	1–0	0–0
3	Sport Recife	6	2	1	3	7	6	+1	5		0–1	0–0	—	5–0
4	Alianza Lima	6	1	1	4	2	10	−8	3		2–1	0–2	0–1	—

Source:

Knockout phase

Bracket

	Second stage					Third stage					Semifinals					Finals
	Universidad Católica	1	0
	Nacional (a)	1	0
						Nacional	1	2
						Newell's Old Boys	1	1
	Bolívar	1	0 (2)
	Newell's Old Boys	0	1 (3)
											Nacional	1	1
											América de Cali	0	1
	América de Cali	1	2
	Universitario	0	2
						América de Cali	1	2
						Oriente Petrolero	1	0
	Oriente Petrolero	2	0
	Colo-Colo	1	0
																Nacional	0	3
																Newell's Old Boys	1	0
	San Lorenzo	1	1
	Guarani	1	0
						San Lorenzo	0	1
						Peñarol	0	0
											San Lorenzo	0	1
											Newell's Old Boys	1	2

Second stage

The group winners and runners-up were drawn in the second stage of the competition. The away goals rule was applied to determine the winner between Nacional and Universidad Católica.

Teams			Scores		Tie-breakers
Team 1	Points	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg	GD	AG	Pen.
Nacional	2:2	Universidad Católica	1–1	0–0	0–0	1–0	—
Universitario	1:3	América de Cali	0–1	2–2	—	—	—
Colo-Colo	1:3	Oriente Petrolero	1–2	0–0	—	—	—
Guarani	1:3	San Lorenzo	1–1	0–1	—	—	—
Newell's Old Boys	2:2	Bolívar	0–1	1–0	0–0	0–0	3–2

Third stage

The defending champion Peñarol entered the competition in this round. The three winners and the best-ranked loser advanced to the semifinals.

Teams			Scores		Tie-breakers
Team 1	Points	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg	GD	AG	Pen.
San Lorenzo	3:1	Peñarol	0–0	1–0	—	—	—
Nacional	3:1	Newell's Old Boys	1–1	2–1	—	—	—
América de Cali	3:1	Oriente Petrolero	1–1	2–0	—	—	—

Ranking of losing teams

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Newell's Old Boys	2	0	1	1	2	3	−1	1
2	Peñarol	2	0	1	1	0	1	−1	1
3	Oriente Petrolero	2	0	1	1	1	3	−2	1

Source:

Semifinals

Teams			Scores		Tie-breakers
Team 1	Points	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg	GD	AG	Pen.
San Lorenzo	0:4	Newell's Old Boys	0–1	1–2	—	—	—
América de Cali	1:3	Nacional	0–1	1–1	—	—	—

Finals

Main article: 1988 Copa Libertadores Finals

19 October 1988

Newell's Old Boys	1–0	Nacional
Gabrich 60'	Report

Gigante de Arroyito, Rosario

Attendance: 45,000

---

26 October 1988

Nacional	3–0	Newell's Old Boys
Vargas 13' Ostolaza 36' De León 78'	Report

Centenario, Montevideo

Attendance: 75,000

External links

• Sitio oficial de la CONMEBOL
• Libertadores 1988 at RSSSF.com