# 2021 Copa Libertadores group stage

The 2021 Copa Libertadores group stage was played from 20 April to 27 May 2021. A total of 32 teams competed in the group stage to decide the 16 places in the final stages of the 2021 Copa Libertadores.

## Draw

The draw for the group stage was held on 9 April 2021, 12:00 PYT (UTC−4), at the CONMEBOL Convention Centre in Luque, Paraguay.
Teams were seeded by their CONMEBOL Clubs ranking as of 1 February 2021 (shown in parentheses), taking into account the following three factors:
* Performance in the last 10 years, taking into account Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana results in the period 2011–2020.
* Historical coefficient, taking into account Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana results in the period 1960–2010 and 2002–2010 respectively.
* Local tournament champion, with bonus points awarded to domestic league champions of the last 10 years.
For the group stage, the 32 teams were drawn into eight groups (Groups A–H) of four containing a team from each of the four pots. Teams from the same association could not be drawn into the same group, excluding the four winners of the third stage, which were seeded in Pot 4 and whose identity was not known at the time of the draw, and could be drawn into the same group with another team from the same association.
Group stage draw :
| Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 | Pot 4 |
| Palmeiras (4) River Plate (1) Boca Juniors (2) Nacional (5) Flamengo (6) Cerro Porteño (11) Olimpia (12) São Paulo (13) | Defensa y Justicia (37) Internacional (18) Atlético Mineiro (19) Santa Fe (21) Racing (22) LDU Quito (26) Universidad Católica (30) Barcelona (31) | Vélez Sarsfield (33) Sporting Cristal (35) América de Cali (36) Fluminense (39) The Strongest (40) Universitario (46) Deportivo Táchira (60) Argentinos Juniors (81) | Deportivo La Guaira (127) Unión La Calera (128) Always Ready (145) Rentistas (250)Third stage winner G1Third stage winner G2Third stage winner G3Third stage winner G4 |

### Notes

* ^ $^{TH}$ The defending Copa Libertadores champions were seeded in Pot 1 and automatically allocated to Group A.
* ^ $^{CS}$ The defending Copa Sudamericana champions were seeded in Pot 2.
The following were the four winners of the third stage of qualifying which joined the 28 direct entrants in the group stage.
| Match | Third stage winners |
| G1 | Atlético Nacional (7) |
| G2 | Independiente del Valle (20) |
| G3 | Junior (27) |
| G4 | Santos (9) |

## Format

In the group stage, each group is played on a home-and-away round-robin basis. The teams are 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; 4. Away goals scored; 5. CONMEBOL ranking (Regulations Article 2.4.2).
The winners and runners-up of each group advanced to the round of 16 of the final stages. The third-placed teams of each group entered the round of 16 of the 2021 Copa Sudamericana.

## Schedule

The schedule of each matchday was as follows (Regulations Article 2.2.2).
| Matchday | Dates | Matches |
| Matchday 1 | 20–22 April 2021 | Team 4 vs. Team 2, Team 3 vs. Team 1 |
| Matchday 2 | 27–29 April 2021 | Team 2 vs. Team 3, Team 1 vs. Team 4 |
| Matchday 3 | 4–6 May 2021 | Team 2 vs. Team 1, Team 4 vs. Team 3 |
| Matchday 4 | 11–13 May 2021 | Team 3 vs. Team 2, Team 4 vs. Team 1 |
| Matchday 5 | 18–20 May 2021 | Team 1 vs. Team 2, Team 3 vs. Team 4 |
| Matchday 6 | 25–27 May 2021 | Team 1 vs. Team 3, Team 2 vs. Team 4 |

## Groups
### Group A

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | PAL | DYJ | IDV | UNI |
| 1 | Palmeiras | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 20 | 7 | +13 | 15 | Round of 16 | — | 3–4 | 5–0 | 6–0 |
| 2 | Defensa y Justicia | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 11 | 8 | +3 | 9 | Round of 16 | 1–2 | — | 1–1 | 3–0 |
| 3 | Independiente del Valle | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 11 | −3 | 5 | Copa Sudamericana | 0–1 | 1–1 | — | 4–0 |
| 4 | Universitario | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 19 | −13 | 4 | | 2–3 | 1–1 | 3–2 | — |

### Group B

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | INT | OLI | TAC | CAR |
| 1 | Internacional | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 12 | 5 | +7 | 10 | Round of 16 | — | 6–1 | 4–0 | 0–0 |
| 2 | Olimpia | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 13 | 14 | −1 | 9 | Round of 16 | 0–1 | — | 6–2 | 2–1 |
| 3 | Deportivo Táchira | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 14 | 17 | −3 | 9 | Copa Sudamericana | 2–1 | 3–2 | — | 7–2 |
| 4 | Always Ready | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 11 | −3 | 7 | | 2–0 | 1–2 | 2–0 | — |

### Group C

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | BSC | BOC | SAN | STR |
| 1 | Barcelona | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 3 | +7 | 13 | Round of 16 | — | 1–0 | 3–1 | 4–0 |
| 2 | Boca Juniors | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 2 | +4 | 10 | Round of 16 | 0–0 | — | 2–0 | 3–0 |
| 3 | Santos | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 8 | 9 | −1 | 6 | Copa Sudamericana | 0–2 | 1–0 | — | 5–0 |
| 4 | The Strongest | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 14 | −10 | 6 | | 2–0 | 0–1 | 2–1 | — |

### Group D

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | FLU | RIV | JUN | SFE |
| 1 | Fluminense | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 10 | 7 | +3 | 11 | Round of 16 | — | 1–1 | 1–2 | 2–1 |
| 2 | River Plate | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 9 | Round of 16 | 1–3 | — | 2–1 | 2–1 |
| 3 | Junior | 6 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 7 | Copa Sudamericana | 1–1 | 1–1 | — | 1–1 |
| 4 | Santa Fe | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 7 | −3 | 3 | | 1–2 | 0–0 | 0–0 | — |

### Group E

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | RAC | SPA | CRI | REN |
| 1 | Racing | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 9 | 2 | +7 | 14 | Round of 16 | — | 0–0 | 2–1 | 3–0 |
| 2 | São Paulo | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 2 | +7 | 11 | Round of 16 | 0–1 | — | 3–0 | 2–0 |
| 3 | Sporting Cristal | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 10 | −7 | 4 | Copa Sudamericana | 0–2 | 0–3 | — | 2–0 |
| 4 | Rentistas | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 9 | −7 | 3 | | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | — |

### Group F

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | ARG | UCA | NAC | ATN |
| 1 | Argentinos Juniors | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 3 | +4 | 12 | Round of 16 | — | 0–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 |
| 2 | Universidad Católica | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 9 | Round of 16 | 0–2 | — | 3–1 | 2–0 |
| 3 | Nacional | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 9 | −1 | 8 | Copa Sudamericana | 2–0 | 1–0 | — | 4–4 |
| 4 | Atlético Nacional | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 9 | −3 | 5 | | 0–2 | 2–0 | 0–0 | — |

### Group G

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | FLA | VEL | LDQ | ULC |
| 1 | Flamengo | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 14 | 9 | +5 | 12 | Round of 16 | — | 0–0 | 2–2 | 4–1 |
| 2 | Vélez Sarsfield | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 8 | +2 | 10 | Round of 16 | 2–3 | — | 3–1 | 2–1 |
| 3 | LDU Quito | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 15 | 13 | +2 | 8 | Copa Sudamericana | 2–3 | 3–1 | — | 5–2 |
| 4 | Unión La Calera | 6 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 17 | −9 | 2 | | 2–2 | 0–2 | 2–2 | — |

### Group H

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | CAM | CCP | AME | DLG |
| 1 | Atlético Mineiro | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 15 | 3 | +12 | 16 | Round of 16 | — | 4–0 | 2–1 | 4–0 |
| 2 | Cerro Porteño | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 5 | −1 | 10 | Round of 16 | 0–1 | — | 1–0 | 0–0 |
| 3 | América de Cali | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 9 | −4 | 4 | Copa Sudamericana | 1–3 | 0–2 | — | 3–1 |
| 4 | Deportivo La Guaira | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 9 | −7 | 3 | | 1–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | — |