PENAROL v PELE

On this day in 1962, The Copa Libertadores, the South American equivalent of the European Cup, had a slow introduction. It was designed as a straight knockout which began in 1960. It didn't appeal to South Americans, so a re-think was necessary and in 1962 the competition was organised into a league structure aiming towards a final pair to compete for the Copa in a two legged Final.

Penarol of Uruguay (a neighbourhood in Montevideo) had won the first two Copas, thanks to a free-scoring Alberto Spencer and his team was expected to make it a consecutive hat trick. Their opponent was the Brazilian club, Santos, who were having to play without their "Global" star, Pele who was suffering from a groin injury gained at the previous World Cup, two months earlier. Against the odds, Santos were 2-1 up after the first leg in Montevideo, which of course, you will know was the away fixture. The return in Brazil was a bit special with the sides equal at 51 minutes, 2-2. At this point the referee, Carlos Robles was knocked unconscious by a rock thrown from the crowd. He gained his wits eventually and suspended the game for an hour while he recovered. There were 39 minutes left in the game.

Spencer put Penarol 3-2 up and then with the game drifting towards its conclusion, Pagao equalised from a blatant offside position; the referee allowed the goal and immediately feared for his life! The linesman who had flagged to disallow the goal was ht on the head by a flying bottle, thrown from the Brazilian  crowd. Three and a half hours later the match was still at 3-3 and Santos assumed they had won on aggregate. The tournament organisers, Conmebol didn't agree when they chalked off Pagao's goal retrospectively sorted, ordering a play off. By the time the replay had been arranged, Pele was back on his feet and he scored twice to help Santos romp to a win, 3-0. 

Santos may have had Pele, but they won no favours when they closed down their "women's" team in 2011 to enable it to afford paying Neymar's (another Brazilian super star!!) wages!

Tomorrow (10th) at 01.30 (our time I guess), Corinthians (guess who founded them) play Flamengo in the Quarter-final of the Copa. The Copa was founded in 1962. As of 2009, most teams qualify to the Copa Libertadores by winning half-year tournaments called the Apertura and Clausura tournaments or by finishing among the top teams in their championship. 

The following 47 teams from the 10 CONMEBOL member associations qualified for the tournament:

• Copa Libertadores champions
• Copa Sudamericana champions
• Brazil: 7 berths
• Argentina: 6 berths
• All other associations: 4 berths each

The countries that use this format are Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Paraguay and Venezuela.

The 2022 Copa CONMEBOL Libertadores is the 63rd edition.

The winners of the 2022 Copa Libertadores will earn the right to play against the winners of the 2022 Copa Suda Americana and they will also automatically qualify for the 2023 Copa Libertadores group stage.

On 14 May 2020, CONMEBOL announced the candidate venues for the 2021, 2022 and 2023 club competition finals. On 13 May 2021, CONMEBOL's Council decided that the Final will be played at the Estadio Monumental Isidro Romero Carbo in Guayaquil, Ecuador on 29 October 2022. (below)

On 25 November 2021, CONMEBOL announced the abolition of the away goals rule in all of its club competitions including the Copa Libertadores, which had been used since 2005. Accordingly, if in a two legged tie,  two teams score the same amount of aggregate goals, the winner of the tie would not be decided by the number of away goals scored by each team but by a penalty shootout

Palmeiras are the defending champions.