# 1988 Copa Libertadores

The 1988 Copa Libertadores de América was the 29th edition of the Copa Libertadores, South America's premier international club football tournament organized by CONMEBOL. This season's defending champion Peñarol of Uruguay entered the tournament in the third stage, where they were defeated by San Lorenzo of Argentina. In the finals, Nacional defeated Newell's Old Boys for their third title.

## Qualified teams

| Country | Team | Qualification method |
| CONMEBOL (1 berth) | Peñarol | 1987 Copa Libertadores champion |
| Argentina (2 berths) | Newell's Old Boys | 1987–88 Primera División champion |
| Argentina (2 berths) | San Lorenzo | 1987–88 Liguilla Pre-Libertadores winner |
| Bolivia (2 berths) | Bolívar | 1987 Primera División champion |
| Bolivia (2 berths) | Oriente Petrolero | 1987 Primera División runner-up |
| Brazil (2 berths) | Sport Recife | 1987 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A champion |
| Brazil (2 berths) | Guarani | 1987 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A runner-up |
| Chile (2 berths) | Universidad Católica | 1987 Primera División champion |
| Chile (2 berths) | Colo-Colo | 1987 Liguilla Pre-Libertadores winner |
| Colombia (2 berths) | Millonarios | 1987 Campeonato Profesional champion |
| Colombia (2 berths) | América de Cali | 1987 Campeonato Profesional runner-up |
| Ecuador (2 berths) | Barcelona | 1987 Campeonato Ecuatoriano champion |
| Ecuador (2 berths) | Filanbanco | 1987 Campeonato Ecuatoriano runner-up |
| Paraguay (2 berths) | Cerro Porteño | 1987 Primera División champion |
| Paraguay (2 berths) | Olimpia | 1987 Primera División runner-up |
| Peru (2 berths) | Universitario | 1987 Primera División champion |
| Peru (2 berths) | Alianza Lima | 1987 Primera División runner-up |
| Uruguay (2 berths) | Montevideo Wanderers | 1987 Liguilla Pre-Libertadores winner |
| Uruguay (2 berths) | Nacional | 1987 Liguilla Pre-Libertadores runner-up |
| Venezuela (2 berths) | Marítimo | 1986–87 Primera División champion |
| Venezuela (2 berths) | Unión Atlético Táchira | 1986–87 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 Uruguay competed as Peñarol was champion of the 1987 Copa Libertadores. They entered the tournament in the third stage.
| Group 1 | Group 2 | Group 3 | Group 4 | Group 5 |
| Chile  Venezuela | Argentina  Ecuador | Colombia  Uruguay | Bolivia  Paraguay | Brazil  Peru |

## First stage
### Group 1

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | UCA | COL | MAR | TAC |
| 1 | Universidad Católica | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 9 | 4 | +5 | 10 | — | 1–0 | 2–1 | 3–1 |
| 2 | Colo-Colo | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 3 | +4 | 9 | 2–2 | — | 1–0 | 2–0 |
| 3 | Marítimo | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 5 | −3 | 3 | 0–0 | 0–1 | — | 1–1 |
| 4 | Unión Atlético Táchira | 6 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 8 | −6 | 2 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | — |

### Group 2

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | NOB | SLO | BAR | FIL |
| 1 | Newell's Old Boys | 6 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 1 | +4 | 8 | — | 0–0 | 3–0 | 1–0 |
| 2 | San Lorenzo | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 4 | +2 | 8 | 0–0 | — | 2–1 | 2–0 |
| 3 | Barcelona | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 8 | +1 | 7 | 0–0 | 2–0 | — | 4–2 |
| 4 | Filanbanco | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 12 | −7 | 1 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 1–2 | — |

#### Tie-breaker

Newell's Old Boys and San Lorenzo played an extra match to determine the winner of the group.

### Group 3

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | ACA | NAC | MIL | MWA |
| 1 | América de Cali | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 6 | +2 | 9 | — | 0–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 |
| 2 | Nacional | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 7 | +1 | 8 | 2–0 | — | 4–1 | 1–0 |
| 3 | Millonarios | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 14 | 12 | +2 | 4 | 2–3 | 6–1 | — | 3–0 |
| 4 | Montevideo Wanderers | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 8 | −5 | 3 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 2–1 | — |

### Group 4

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | OPE | BOL | CPO | OLI |
| 1 | Oriente Petrolero | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 7 | — | 1–3 | 2–2 | 1–0 |
| 2 | Bolívar | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 12 | 10 | +2 | 6 | 1–2 | — | 2–0 | 2–0 |
| 3 | Cerro Porteño | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 7 | −1 | 6 | 1–0 | 3–2 | — | 0–0 |
| 4 | Olimpia | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 7 | −1 | 5 | 1–2 | 4–2 | 1–0 | — |

### Group 5

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | GUA | UNI | REC | ALI |
| 1 | Guarani | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 5 | +4 | 8 | — | 1–1 | 4–1 | 1–0 |
| 2 | Universitario | 6 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 2 | +3 | 8 | 1–1 | — | 1–0 | 0–0 |
| 3 | Sport Recife | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 6 | +1 | 5 | 0–1 | 0–0 | — | 5–0 |
| 4 | Alianza Lima | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 10 | −8 | 3 | 2–1 | 0–2 | 0–1 | — |

## Knockout phase
### Bracket

| Second stage | Second stage | Second stage | Third stage | Third stage | Third stage | Semifinals | Semifinals | Semifinals | | Finals | Finals | Finals |
| Universidad Católica | 1 | 0 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Nacional (a) | 1 | 0 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Nacional (a) | 1 | 0 | Nacional | 1 | 2 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Newell's Old Boys | 1 | 1 | | | | | | | |
| Bolívar | 1 | 0 (2) | Newell's Old Boys | 1 | 1 | | | | | | | |
| Newell's Old Boys | 0 | 1 (3) | | | | | | | | | | |
| Newell's Old Boys | 0 | 1 (3) | | | | Nacional | 1 | 1 | | | | |
| | | | | | | América de Cali | 0 | 1 | | | | |
| América de Cali | 1 | 2 | | | | | | | América de Cali | 0 | 1 | | | | |
| Universitario | 0 | 2 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Universitario | 0 | 2 | América de Cali | 1 | 2 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Oriente Petrolero | 1 | 0 | | | | | | | |
| Oriente Petrolero | 2 | 0 | Oriente Petrolero | 1 | 0 | | | | | | | |
| Colo-Colo | 1 | 0 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Colo-Colo | 1 | 0 | | | | | | | | Nacional | 0 | 3 |
| | | | | | | | | | | Newell's Old Boys | 1 | 0 |
| San Lorenzo | 1 | 1 | | | | | | | | | | | Newell's Old Boys | 1 | 0 |
| Guarani | 1 | 0 | | | | | | | | | | |
| Guarani | 1 | 0 | San Lorenzo | 0 | 1 | | | | | | | |
| | | | Peñarol | 0 | 0 | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | San Lorenzo | 0 | 1 | | | | |
| | | | | | | Newell's Old Boys | 1 | 2 | | | | |

### Second stage

The group winners and runners-up were drawn in the second stage of the competition. The away goals rule was applied to determine the winner between Nacional and Universidad Católica.
| Teams | Teams | Teams | Scores | Scores | Tie-breakers | Tie-breakers | Tie-breakers |
| Team 1 | Points | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg | GD | AG | Pen. |
| Nacional | 2:2 | Universidad Católica | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | — |
| Universitario | 1:3 | América de Cali | 0–1 | 2–2 | — | — | — |
| Colo-Colo | 1:3 | Oriente Petrolero | 1–2 | 0–0 | — | — | — |
| Guarani | 1:3 | San Lorenzo | 1–1 | 0–1 | — | — | — |
| Newell's Old Boys | 2:2 | Bolívar | 0–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 3–2 |

### Third stage

The defending champion Peñarol entered the competition in this round. The three winners and the best-ranked loser advanced to the semifinals.
| Teams | Teams | Teams | Scores | Scores | Tie-breakers | Tie-breakers | Tie-breakers |
| Team 1 | Points | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg | GD | AG | Pen. |
| San Lorenzo | 3:1 | Peñarol | 0–0 | 1–0 | — | — | — |
| Nacional | 3:1 | Newell's Old Boys | 1–1 | 2–1 | — | — | — |
| América de Cali | 3:1 | Oriente Petrolero | 1–1 | 2–0 | — | — | — |

#### Ranking of losing teams

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | Newell's Old Boys | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −1 | 1 |
| 2 | Peñarol | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | −1 | 1 |
| 3 | Oriente Petrolero | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | −2 | 1 |

### Semifinals

| Teams | Teams | Teams | Scores | Scores | Tie-breakers | Tie-breakers | Tie-breakers |
| Team 1 | Points | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg | GD | AG | Pen. |
| San Lorenzo | 0:4 | Newell's Old Boys | 0–1 | 1–2 | — | — | — |
| América de Cali | 1:3 | Nacional | 0–1 | 1–1 | — | — | — |