2015 Copa Libertadores Finals

The 2015 Copa Libertadores de América Finals were the two-legged final that decided the winner of the 2015 Copa Libertadores de América, the 56th edition of the Copa Libertadores de América, South America's premier international club football tournament organized by CONMEBOL.

2015 Copa Libertadores de América Finals
Event2015 Copa Libertadores de América
UANL River Plate
0 3
on aggregate
First leg
UANL River Plate
0 0
Date29 July 2015
VenueEstadio Universitario, San Nicolás de los Garza
RefereeAntonio Arias (Paraguay)
Second leg
River Plate UANL
3 0
Date5 August 2015
VenueEstadio Antonio Vespucio Liberti, Buenos Aires
RefereeDarío Ubriaco (Uruguay)

The finals were contested in two-legged home-and-away format between Mexican team UANL and Argentine team River Plate. The first leg was hosted by UANL at Estadio Universitario in San Nicolás de los Garza on 29 July 2015, while the second leg was hosted by River Plate at Estadio Antonio Vespucio Liberti in Buenos Aires on 5 August 2015.[1]

River Plate earned the right to represent CONMEBOL at the 2015 FIFA Club World Cup, entering at the semifinal stage, regardless of the result of the final, due to UANL being an invited team from CONCACAF and therefore not eligible to represent CONMEBOL at the tournament. Due to the same reason, River Plate also earned the right to play against the 2015 Copa Sudamericana winners in the 2016 Recopa Sudamericana.[2]

The first leg ended in a scoreless draw.[3] The second leg ended in a 3–0 win for River Plate, and they won the tournament for the third time in their history.[4][5][6]

Teams
Team Previous finals appearances (bold indicates winners)
UANL None
River Plate 4 (1966, 1976, 1986, 1996)

UANL came into the finals as first-time finalists of the Copa Libertadores. River Plate had previously won two titles in four finals: 1986 and 1996.

Road to the finals
Further information: 2015 Copa Libertadores

Note: In all scores below, the score of the home team is given first.

UANL Round River Plate
Opponent Venue Score Opponent Venue Score
Bye First stage Bye
Group 6 Second stage Group 6
Juan Aurich Home3–0 San José Away2–0
River Plate Away1–1 UANL Home1–1
San José Away0–1 Juan Aurich Away1–1
San José Home4–0 Juan Aurich Home1–1
River Plate Home2–2 UANL Away2–2
Juan Aurich Away4–5 San José Home3–0
Pos Team Pld Pts
1 UANL 6 14
2 River Plate 6 7
3 Juan Aurich 6 6
4 San José 6 4
Source: CONMEBOL
Pos Team Pld Pts
1 UANL 6 14
2 River Plate 6 7
3 Juan Aurich 6 6
4 San José 6 4
Source: CONMEBOL
Seed 2 Final stages Seed 16
Universitario
(won 3–2 on aggregate)		 Away1–2 Round of 16 Boca Juniors
(won 1–0 on aggregate – Boca Juniors disqualified)		 Home1–0
Home1–1 Away0–0 (susp.)
Emelec
(won 2–1 on aggregate)		 Away1–0 Quarterfinals Cruzeiro
(won 3–1 on aggregate)		 Home0–1
Home2–0 Away0–3
Internacional
(won 4–3 on aggregate)		 Away2–1 Semifinals Guaraní
(won 3–1 on aggregate)		 Home2–0
Home3–1 Away1–1

Format

The finals were played on a home-and-away two-legged basis. If tied on aggregate, the away goals rule would not be used, and 30 minutes of extra time would be played. If still tied after extra time, the penalty shoot-out would be used to determine the winner.[2]

Since UANL are from Mexico, they had to host the first leg regardless of seeding (Regulations Article 3.7b: "El Torneo deberá indefectiblemente finalizar en un país perteneciente al continente sudamericano. Para tal caso, de llegar a las finales un equipo que no pertenece al continente sudamericano, deberá indefectiblemente jugar su primer partido de local." English translation: "The Tournament shall invariably end in a country belonging to the South American continent. Therefore, provided that a team not belonging to the South American continent qualifies to the finals, it shall invariably play the first leg at its home.")[2]

Matches

First leg

Near the end of the first half, Tigres defender Hugo Ayala left the game with an ankle injury. River Plate right-back Gabriel Mercado was booked soon after for a stamp on André-Pierre Gignac, leading him to miss the second leg.[7] At the break, River manager Marcelo Gallardo made an attacking double substitution, withdrawing Rodrigo Mora and Tabaré Viúdez for Gonzalo Martínez and Nicolás Bertolo, but was also suspended after shouting at the fourth official. Despite Tigres having most of the possession and late opportunities from Juninho and Jürgen Damm, the game ended goalless.[8][9]

UANL 0–0 River Plate
Report
Attendance: 40,000
UANL
River Plate
GK1 Nahuel Guzmán
RB2 Israel Jiménez
CB4 Hugo Ayala 41'
CB3 Juninho (c)
LB6 Jorge Torres Nilo
RM27 Jürgen Damm 54'
CM19 Guido Pizarro
CM5 Egidio Arévalo Ríos 70'
LM11 Damián Álvarez
CF9 Rafael Sóbis 32'
CF10 André-Pierre Gignac
Substitutes:
GK22 Enrique Palos
DF14 Iván Estrada
DF24 José Rivas 41'
MF18 José Francisco Torres
MF23 Gerardo Lugo
MF29 Jesús Dueñas 70'
FW16 Enrique Esqueda
Manager:
Ricardo Ferretti
GK1 Marcelo Barovero (c)
RB25 Gabriel Mercado 42'
CB2 Jonathan Maidana
CB6 Ramiro Funes Mori
LB21 Leonel Vangioni 4'
RM8 Carlos Sánchez
CM23 Leonardo Ponzio 64'  76'
CM5 Matías Kranevitter
LM19 Tabaré Viúdez 46'
CF7 Rodrigo Mora 46'
CF13 Lucas Alario
Substitutes:
GK26 Julio Chiarini
DF3 Éder Álvarez Balanta
MF10 Gonzalo Martínez 46'
MF16 Nicolás Bertolo 46'
MF27 Lucho González 76'
FW9 Fernando Cavenaghi
FW29 Javier Saviola
Manager:
Marcelo Gallardo 72'
Estadio Universitario in San Nicolás de los Garza, Mexico, hosted the first leg.

Assistant referees:[10]
Eduardo Cardozo (Paraguay)
Juan Zorrilla (Paraguay)
Fourth official:
Julio Quintana (Paraguay)

Second leg

River opened the scoring at the end of the first half when recent signing Alario headed Leonel Vangioni's low cross from the left into the goal. At 8' Lucas Alario committed an illegal strong entry against the ankle of Guido Pizarro, foul that media later considered that deserved red card.[11][12] Alario saw yellow card. At 25', Tigres had four players with yellow card, three of them defenders.

At 46' Ramiro Funes Mori committed another illegal strong entry, this time against Rafael Sóbis, foul that media also later considered that deserved red card. Funes Mori was amonestated. When Carlos Sánchez went down in the penalty area, he scored the resulting spot kick, shooting to the left of the goalkeeper to double the team's lead. Four minutes later, a corner kick from the right was headed by Ramiro Funes Mori through the legs of the goalkeeper to secure a 3–0 victory, River's first Copa Libertadores for 19 years.[13][14] The match was played under a heavy rainfall and polemic arbitration.

River Plate 3–0 UANL
Alario  45'
Sánchez  75' (pen.)
Funes Mori  79'		 Report
Attendance: 69,000
River Plate
UANL
GK1 Marcelo Barovero
RB18 Camilo Mayada
CB2 Jonathan Maidana
CB6 Ramiro Funes Mori 47'
LB21 Leonel Vangioni
RM8 Carlos Sánchez 76'
CM23 Leonardo Ponzio
CM5 Matías Kranevitter 82'
LM16 Nicolás Bertolo
CF13 Lucas Alario 9'  69'
CF9 Fernando Cavenaghi (c)  56'  77'
Substitutes:
GK26 Julio Chiarini
DF3 Éder Álvarez Balanta
MF10 Gonzalo Martínez
MF15 Leonardo Pisculichi 77'
MF27 Lucho González 82'
FW22 Sebastián Driussi 69'
FW29 Javier Saviola
Manager:
Matías Biscay[15]
GK1 Nahuel Guzmán
RB2 Israel Jiménez 17'  77'
CB24 José Rivas 25'
CB3 Juninho (c) 19'
LB6 Jorge Torres Nilo 72'
RM27 Jürgen Damm
CM19 Guido Pizarro
CM5 Egidio Arévalo Ríos 64'
LM20 Javier Aquino
CF10 André-Pierre Gignac 22'
CF9 Rafael Sóbis
Substitutes:
GK22 Enrique Palos
DF25 Antonio Briseño
MF11 Damián Álvarez
MF15 Manuel Viniegra
MF18 José Francisco Torres
MF29 Jesús Dueñas 64'
FW8 Joffre Guerrón 77'
Manager:
Ricardo Ferretti
Estadio Antonio Vespucio Liberti in Buenos Aires, Argentina, hosted the second leg.

Assistant referees:[10]
Mauricio Espinosa (Uruguay)
Nicolas Taran (Uruguay)
Fourth official:
Andrés Cunha (Uruguay)

See also

References
  1. "El 29 de julio y el 5 de agosto se define al campeón de la 56° edición de la Bridgestone Libertadores" (in Spanish). CONMEBOL.com. July 23, 2015.
  2. "Copa Bridgestone Libertadores 2015 – Regulamento" (PDF) (in Spanish). CONMEBOL.com.
  3. "Copa Bridgestone Libertadores: Tigres y River Plate empataron 0-0 en primera final" (in Spanish). CONMEBOL.com. 29 July 2015.
  4. "Copa Bridgestone Libertadores: River Plate es campeón tras derrotar 3 a 0 a Tigres" (in Spanish). CONMEBOL.com. 5 August 2015.
  5. "River Plate win third Copa Libertadores title with victory over Tigres". Guardian. 6 August 2015. Retrieved 6 August 2015.
  6. "River Plate 3 Tigres 0". Goal.com. 6 August 2015. Retrieved 6 August 2015.
  7. "Tigres 0-0 River Plate: Visitors lose Gallardo in Copa Libertadores final first leg". Goal.com. 30 July 2015. Retrieved 4 August 2015.
  8. "Tigres UANL 0 River Plate 0: Visitors lose Gallardo in Copa Libertadores final first leg". FourFourTwo. 30 July 2015. Retrieved 3 August 2015.
  9. "Copa Bridgestone Libertadores: Tigres (0) vs River Plate (0)". YouTube. 30 July 2015.
  10. "Árbitros para los juegos de la final de la Bridgestone Libertadores" (in Spanish). CONMEBOL. July 24, 2015.
  11. https://www.clarin.com/deportes/futbol/river-plate/river-tigres-copa_libertadores_0_BkA_gHFvQx.html
  12. http://elcomercio.pe/deporte-total/futbol-mundial/river-plate-falta-alario-tarjeta-roja-190582
  13. "River Plate win third Copa Libertadores title with victory over Tigres". The Guardian. Reuters. 6 August 2015. Retrieved 6 August 2015.
  14. "Copa Bridgestone Libertadores: River Plate (3) vs Tigres (0)". YouTube. 6 August 2015.
  15. "Matías Biscay estará en el banco reemplazando a Gallardo". Diario Jornada. 8 August 2015. Retrieved 4 August 2015.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.