1998 Copa Libertadores group stage

The 1998 Copa Libertadores group stage was played from 25 February to 9 April 1998. A total of 20 teams competed in the group stage to decide 15 places in the final stages of the 1998 Copa Libertadores, where they joined defending champions Cruzeiro.

Groups composition

Same as previous editions, the 20 participating teams were divided into 5 groups of 4, which consisted of two teams from one association and two teams from another. The paired associations for this edition were as follows:

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

However, after the agreement reached between the Venezuelan Football Federation (FVF) and Mexican promoters close to the Mexican Football Federation (FMF), the two places corresponding to the FVF were put at stake in a previous tournament, called Pre-Libertadores, between the two Venezuelan teams that had previously qualified for this edition and two Mexican teams designated by the FMF.^[1] Mexican sides Guadalajara and Club América overcame Venezuelan sides Caracas and Atlético Zulia to qualify for group 2.^[2]

Format

In the group stage, each group was played on a home-and-away round-robin basis. The teams were ranked according to the following criteria: 1. Points (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, and 0 points for a loss); 2. Goal difference; 3. Goals scored.

The winners, runners-up and third placed teams of each group advanced to the round of 16 of the final stages.

Schedule

The match schedule of the group stage was announced by CONMEBOL on 12 December 1997.^[3]

Weeks	Dates	Group 1	Group 2	Group 3	Group 4	Group 5
Week 1	25 February 1998	COL1 v COL2, ECU1 v ECU2	—	PAR1 v PAR2, CHI2 v CHI1	BOL1 v BOL2, URU1 v URU2	—
Week 2	3, 4 and 6 March 1998	ECU2 v COL2, ECU1 v COL2	MEX2 v MEX1, BRA2 v BRA1	PAR2 v CHI1, PAR1 v CHI1	BOL2 v URU1, BOL1 v URU1	ARG2 v ARG1, PER1 v PER2
Week 3	10–13 March 1998	ECU2 v COL1, ECU1 v COL1	MEX2 v BRA2, MEX1 v BRA2	PAR2 v CHI2, PAR1 v CHI2	BOL2 v URU2, BOL1 v URU2	ARG2 v PER2, PER1 v ARG1
Week 4	17–20 March 1998	COL2 v COL1, ECU2 v ECU1	MEX2 v BRA1, MEX1 v BRA1	PAR2 v PAR1, CHI1 v CHI2	URU2 v URU1, BOL2 v BOL1	ARG2 v PER1, PER2 v ARG1
Week 5	24–27 March 1998	COL2 v ECU2, COL1 v ECU2	BRA1 v BRA2, MEX1 v MEX2	CHI2 v PAR2, CHI1 v PAR2	URU2 v BOL2, URU1 v BOL2	ARG1 v ARG2, PER2 v PER1
Week 6	31 March – 3 April 1998	COL2 v ECU1, COL1 v ECU1	BRA2 v MEX2, BRA1 v MEX2	CHI2 v PAR1, CHI1 v PAR1	URU2 v BOL1, URU1 v BOL1	PER1 v ARG2, ARG1 v PER2
Week 7	7–9 April 1998	—	BRA2 v MEX1, BRA1 v MEX1	—	—	PER2 v ARG2, ARG1 v PER1

Groups

Group 1

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	AME	BSC	BUC	SDQ
1	América de Cali	6	3	2	1	10	5	+5	11	Round of 16	—	3–0	2–2	2–1
2	Barcelona	6	2	3	1	5	3	+2	9		1–0	—	2–0	0–0
3	Atlético Bucaramanga	6	2	1	3	5	6	−1	7		0–1	2–0	—	2–0
4	Deportivo Quito	6	1	2	3	3	9	−6	5		0–4	1–1	1–0	—

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

25 February 1998

--:-- UTC−5

Barcelona	0–0	Deportivo Quito
	Report

Estadio Monumental Isidro Romero Carbo, Guayaquil

Referee: Mauricio Reinoso (Ecuador)

25 February 1998

--:-- UTC−5

América de Cali	2–2	Atlético Bucaramanga
Moreno 27' Pérez 44'	Report	Restrepo 67' Galarcio 89'

Estadio Olímpico Pascual Guerrero, Cali

Attendance: 40,789

Referee: Flavio Rojas (Colombia)

3 March 1998

--:-- UTC−5

Deportivo Quito	1–0	Atlético Bucaramanga
Soria 54' (pen.)	Report

Estadio Olímpico Atahualpa, Quito

Attendance: 20,000

Referee: Juan Luna (Bolivia)

6 March 1998

--:-- UTC−5

Barcelona	2–0	Atlético Bucaramanga
Arias 11' Asencio 44'	Report

Estadio Monumental Isidro Romero Carbo, Guayaquil

Attendance: 20,000

Referee: René Ortube (Bolivia)

10 March 1998

--:-- UTC−5

Deportivo Quito	0–4	América de Cali
	Report	Ortegón 5' González 29' Pérez 34', 80'

Estadio Olímpico Atahualpa, Quito

Attendance: 15,000

Referee: José Arana (Peru)

13 March 1998

--:-- UTC−5

Barcelona	1–0	América de Cali
Asprilla 4' (o.g.)	Report

Estadio Monumental Isidro Romero Carbo, Guayaquil

Attendance: 60,000

Referee: Alberto Tejada (Peru)

18 March 1998

--:-- UTC−5

Deportivo Quito	1–1	Barcelona
Burbano 27'	Report	Delgado 70'

Estadio Olímpico Atahualpa, Quito

Attendance: 20,000

Referee: Ángel Guevara (Ecuador)

18 March 1998

--:-- UTC−5

Atlético Bucaramanga	0–1	América de Cali
	Report	Cardona 48'

Estadio Alfonso López Pumarejo, Bogotá

Attendance: 6,000

Referee: Julián Idarraga (Colombia)

24 March 1998

--:-- UTC−5

Atlético Bucaramanga	2–0	Deportivo Quito
Restrepo 66' España 85'	Report

Estadio Alfonso López Pumarejo, Bogotá

Attendance: 4,000

Referee: Luis Solorzano (Venezuela)

27 March 1998

--:-- UTC−5

América de Cali	2–1	Deportivo Quito
Hurtado 65' Castillo 88'	Report	Lell 85'

Estadio Olímpico Pascual Guerrero, Cali

Attendance: 7,500

Referee: Rafael Torrealba (Venezuela)

31 March 1998

--:-- UTC−5

Atlético Bucaramanga	1–0	Barcelona
Gómez 39'	Report

Estadio Alfonso López Pumarejo, Bogotá

Referee: Oscar Sequeira (Argentina)

3 April 1998

--:-- UTC−5

América de Cali	1–1	Barcelona
González 61'	Report	Sotelo 29'

Estadio Olímpico Pascual Guerrero, Cali

Referee: Daniel Giménez (Argentina)

Group 2

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification	GRE	VAS	AME	GUA
1	Grêmio	6	4	0	2	6	5	+1	12	Round of 16	—	1–0	1–0	2–0
2	Vasco da Gama	6	2	2	2	7	4	+3	8		3–0	—	1–1	2–0
3	América	6	2	2	2	6	5	+1	8		1–2	1–1	—	2–0
4	Guadalajara	6	2	0	4	2	7	−5	6		1–0	1–0	0–1	—

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

4 March 1998

--:-- UTC−6

Guadalajara	0–1	América
	Report	García Aspe 63' (pen.)

Estadio Jalisco, Guadalajara

Attendance: 40,000

Referee: Óscar Ruiz (Colombia)

4 March 1998

Groups composition

Format

Schedule

Groups

Group 1

Group 2

Group 3

Group 4

Group 5

References

External links