2007 Copa Libertadores finals

2007 Copa Libertadores finals

Event	2007 Copa Toyota Libertadores
Boca Juniors Grêmio 5 0
on aggregate
First leg
Boca Juniors Grêmio 3 0
Date	13 June 2007
Venue	La Bombonera, Buenos Aires
Man of the Match	Juan Román Riquelme
Referee	Jorge Larrionda
Attendance	50,993
Second leg
Grêmio Boca Juniors 0 2
Date	20 June 2007
Venue	Estádio Olímpico, Porto Alegre
Man of the Match	Juan Román Riquelme
Referee	Oscar Ruiz
Attendance	53,952
← 2006 2008 →

The 2007 Copa Libertadores finals was a two-legged football match-up to determine the 2007 Copa Libertadores champion. The series was contested between Argentine club Boca Juniors and Brazilian club Grêmio. The first leg of the tie was played on June 13 at Boca Juniors' home field, La Bombonera, with the second leg played on June 20 at Gremio's Estádio Olímpico. Boca Juniors won the series 5–0 on aggregate,^[1] achieving their sixth Copa Libertadores title.^[2]

Qualified teams

Team	Previous finals app.
Boca Juniors	1963, 1977, 1978, 1979, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004
Grêmio	1983, 1984, 1995

Bold indicates winning years

Venues

La Bombonera (Buenos Aires) and Estádio Olímpico (Porto Alegre), venues for the finals

Route to the finals

Grêmio			Boca Juniors
São Paulo A 0–1		Round of 16 First leg		Vélez Sársfield H 3–0	Riquelme 9' Palermo 61' Rodríguez 89'
São Paulo H 2–0	Tcheco 17' Diego Souza 74'	Second leg		Vélez Sársfield A 1–3	Bustos (o.g.) 32'
Defensor Sporting A 0–2		Quarterfinals First leg		Libertad H 1–1	Palermo 90'
Defensor Sporting H 2–0 (p. 4–2)	Tcheco 22' Teco 45'	Second leg		Libertad A 2–0	Riquelme 61' Palacio
Santos H 2–0	Tcheco 34' Carlos Eduardo 36'	Semifinals First leg		Cúcuta Deportivo A 1–3	Ledesma 27'
Santos A 1–3	Diego Souza 34'	Second leg		Cúcuta Deportivo H 3–0	Riquelme 44' Palermo 61' Battaglia 90'

Final summary

First leg

2007 Copa Libertadores finals

13 June 2007

21:45 (UTC-3)

First leg

Boca Juniors	3–0	Grêmio
Palacio 18' Riquelme 73' Patrício 89' (o.g.)	Report

La Bombonera, Buenos Aires

Attendance: 50,993

Referee: Jorge Larrionda (Uruguay)

Boca Juniors

Grêmio

GK 12 Mauricio Caranta DF 4 Hugo Ibarra  13' DF 6 Daniel Díaz DF 3 Claudio Morel Rodríguez DF 21 Clemente Rodríguez MF 8 Pablo Ledesma MF 24 Éver Banega  34'  81' MF 19 Neri Cardozo  64'  67' MF 10 Juan Román Riquelme  53' FW 14 Rodrigo Palacio FW 9 Martín Palermo (c) Substitutes: GK 25 Pablo Migliore MF 5 Sebastián Battaglia  81' MF 2 Matías Silvestre MF 11 Bruno Marioni MF 15 Guillermo Marino FW 17 Mauro Boselli MF 23 Jesús Datolo  67' Manager: Miguel Russo

GK 1 Sebastián Saja DF 2 Patrício  15' DF 4 William DF 14 Teco DF 16 Lúcio MF 15 Sandro Goiano  53'  58' MF 22 Diego Gavilán MF 10 Tcheco (c)  80' MF 7 Diego Souza FW 11 Carlos Eduardo FW 9 Tuta  72' Substitutes: GK 12 Galatto MF 8 Lucas  72' DF 6 Bruno Teles MF 5 Edmílson DF 3 Rolando Schiavi MF 18 Ramón FW 20 Douglas  80' Manager: Mano Menezes

Second leg

20 June 2007

21:45 (UTC-3)

Second leg

Grêmio	0–2	Boca Juniors
	Report	Riquelme 69', 81'

Estádio Olímpico Monumental, Porto Alegre

Attendance: 51,851

Referee: Óscar Ruiz (Colombia)

Grêmio

Boca Juniors

GK 1 Sebastián Saja DF 2 Patrício DF 4 William DF 14 Teco  35' DF 16 Lúcio  88' MF 7 Diego Souza  50' MF 8 Lucas  70' MF 22 Diego Gavilán MF 10 Tcheco (c)  46' FW 11 Carlos Eduardo FW 9 Tuta  70' Substitutes: GK 12 Galatto DF 3 Rolando Schiavi  84'  35' DF 6 Bruno Teles MF 18 Ramón MF 19 Everton  70' FW 20 Douglas FW 21 Amoroso  46' Manager: Mano Menezes

GK 12 Mauricio Caranta DF 4 Hugo Ibarra DF 6 Daniel Díaz DF 3 Claudio Morel Rodríguez DF 21 Clemente Rodríguez MF 8 Pablo Ledesma  74' MF 24 Éver Banega  82' MF 19 Neri Cardozo  59' MF 10 Juan Riquelme FW 14 Rodrigo Palacio  87' FW 9 Martín Palermo (c) Substitutes: GK 25 Pablo Migliore DF 2 Matías Silvestre MF 23 Jesus Datolo MF 16 Sergio Orteman  82' MF 5 Sebastián Battaglia  59' FW 17 Mauro Boselli  87' FW 11 Bruno Marioni Manager: Miguel Russo

Aftermath

With this appearance in the last stage Boca Juniors achieved a record-tie 9 times in the finals, winning five of the seven previous occasions. At that moment only Peñarol of Uruguay had played that number of finals. The media praised Juan Román Riquelme's performance in the finals, crediting him as Boca Juniors' most notable player. Riquelme had returned to Boca Juniors after a frustrating experience in Spanish club Villarreal where manager Manuel Pellegrini excluded him from the senior squad due to personal disputes.^[3] Under the guidance of manager Miguel Ángel Russo, Riquelme was the top scorer of the team (and second of the 2007 edition behind Salvador Cabañas with 8 goals in 11 matches, three of them in the finals.^[4]

Riquelme made it easy to win the Copa Libertadores

— Sergio Orteman, Riquelme's teammate in 2007 ^[4]

The (Libertadores) Cup is like the girl you want but she ignores you

— Miguel Ángel Russo, Boca Juniors manager ^[5]

The 5–0 aggregate score remains nowadays as the largest victory in the history of Copa Libertadores' finals.^[5]

On the other hand, Grêmio –that had played three finals winning two of them– became the second Brazilian club with most Copa Libertadores finals contested (four until then), just behind of São Paulo who had six.

References