1978 Copa Libertadores

1978 Copa Libertadores de América

Tournament details
Dates	June 27 – November 28
Teams	21 (from 10 associations)
Final positions
Champions	Boca Juniors (2nd title)
Runners-up	Deportivo Cali
Tournament statistics
Matches played	75
Goals scored	179 (2.39 per match)
← 1977 1979 →

The 1978 edition of Copa Libertadores was won by Boca Juniors, of Argentina for the second straight year, after defeating Deportivo Cali of Colombia in the final. The defending champions won the two-leg final 0–4 on aggregate, with all four goals coming in the second-leg match after the first leg ended in a goalless draw.

Qualified teams

Country	Team	Qualification method
CONMEBOL (1 berth)	Boca Juniors	1977 Copa Libertadores champion
Argentina (2 berths)	River Plate	1977 Metropolitano champion
	Independiente	1977 Nacional champion
Bolivia (2 berths)	The Strongest	1977 Primera División champion
	Oriente Petrolero	1977 Primera División runner-up
Brazil (2 berths)	São Paulo	1977 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A champion
	Atlético Mineiro	1977 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A runner-up
Chile (2 berths)	Unión Española	1977 Primera División champion
	Palestino	1977 Liguilla Pre-Libertadores winner
Colombia (2 berths)	Junior	1977 Campeonato Profesional champion
	Deportivo Cali	1977 Campeonato Profesional runner-up
Ecuador (2 berths)	El Nacional	1977 Campeonato Ecuatoriano champion
	LDU Quito	1977 Campeonato Ecuatoriano runner-up
Paraguay (2 berths)	Cerro Porteño	1977 Primera División champion
	Libertad	1977 Primera División runner-up
Peru (2 berths)	Alianza Lima	1977 Primera División champion
	Sporting Cristal	1977 Primera División runner-up
Uruguay (2 berths)	Peñarol	1977 Liguilla Pre-Libertadores winner
	Danubio	1977 Liguilla Pre-Libertadores runner-up
Venezuela (2 berths)	Portuguesa	1977 Primera División champion
	Estudiantes de Mérida	1977 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 Argentina competed as Boca Juniors was champion of the 1977 Copa Libertadores. They entered the tournament in the Semifinals.

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

Group stage

Group 1

Group 1 standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		RIV	IND	LDQ	EN
1	River Plate	6	2	4	0	7	1	+6	8	Qualified to the semi-finals		—	0–0	4–0	2–0
2	Independiente	6	3	2	1	6	2	+4	8			0–0	—	2–0	2–0
3	LDU Quito	6	2	1	3	4	10	−6	5			0–0	1–0	—	3–2
4	El Nacional	6	1	1	4	6	10	−4	3			1–1	1–2	2–0	—

Source:
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Tiebreaker

River Plate v Independiente

2 August 1978

River Plate

4–1

Independiente

Buenos Aires

Group 2

Group 2 standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		ALI	CRI	STR	OPE
1	Alianza Lima	6	5	1	0	19	5	+14	11	Qualified to the semi-finals		—	2–2	2–0	5–1
2	Sporting Cristal	6	3	1	2	9	9	0	7			1–4	—	3–0	1–0
3	The Strongest	6	2	0	4	7	12	−5	4			1–2	3–1	—	2–0
4	Oriente Petrolero	6	1	0	5	5	14	−9	2			0–4	0–1	4–1	—

Source:
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Group 3

Group 3 standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		CAM	UE	SAO	PAL
1	Atlético Mineiro	6	4	2	0	16	8	+8	10	Qualified to the semi-finals		—	5–1	1–1	2–0
2	Unión Española	6	1	4	1	7	10	−3	6			1–1	—	1–1	0–0
3	São Paulo	6	1	3	2	6	7	−1	5			1–2	1–1	—	1–2
4	Palestino	6	1	1	4	8	12	−4	3			4–5	2–3	0–1	—

Source:
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Group 4

Group 4 standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		CAL	PEÑ	JUN	DAN
1	Deportivo Cali	6	3	2	1	5	3	+2	8	Qualified to the semi-finals		—	1–0	0–0	2–0
2	Peñarol	6	3	0	3	7	7	0	6			0–2	—	1–0	4–2
3	Junior	6	1	4	1	1	1	0	6			0–0	1–0	—	0–0
4	Danubio	6	1	2	3	6	8	−2	4			3–0	1–2	0–0	—

Source:
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Group 5

Group 5 standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		CCP	POR	ESM	LIB
1	Cerro Porteño	6	3	3	0	7	4	+3	9	Qualified to the semi-finals		—	1–0	1–1	1–0
2	Portuguesa	6	2	2	2	5	5	0	6			1–1	—	1–2	1–0
3	Estudiantes de Mérida	6	1	3	2	7	8	−1	5			2–3	0–0	—	1–1
4	Libertad	6	1	2	3	4	6	−2	4			0–0	1–2	2–1	—

Source:
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Semi-finals

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		BOC	RIV	CAM
1	Boca Juniors	4	3	1	0	7	2	+5	7	Qualified to the final		—	0–0	3–1
2	River Plate	4	1	1	2	1	3	−2	3			0–2	—	1–0
3	Atlético Mineiro	4	1	0	3	3	6	−3	2			1–2	1–0	—

Source:
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		CAL	CCP	ALI
1	Deportivo Cali	4	3	1	0	12	4	+8	7	Qualified to the final		—	1–1	3–2
2	Cerro Porteño	4	1	1	2	4	9	−5	3			0–4	—	3–1
3	Alianza Lima	4	1	0	3	7	10	−3	2			1–4	3–0	—

Source:
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Results

Alianza Lima v Cerro Porteño

14 September 1978

Alianza Lima

3–0

Cerro Porteño

Lima

Deportivo Cali v Cerro Porteño

17 September 1978

Deportivo Cali

1–1

Cerro Porteño

Cali

Deportivo Cali v Alianza Lima

21 September 1978

Deportivo Cali

3–2

Alianza Lima

Cali

Cerro Porteño v Alianza Lima

5 October 1978

Cerro Porteño

3–1

Alianza Lima

Asunción

Alianza Lima v Deportivo Cali

14 October 1978

Alianza Lima

1–4

Deportivo Cali

Lima

Cerro Porteño v Deportivo Cali

18 October 1978

Cerro Porteño

0–4

Deportivo Cali

Asunción

Finals

Main article: 1978 Copa Libertadores Finals

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Deportivo Cali	0–4	Boca Juniors	0–0	0–4

Champion

1978 Copa Libertadores champions
Boca Juniors 2nd title

External links

• Copa Libertadores 1978 by Karel Stokkermans at RSSSF