page_title: Copa Libertadores
section_title: Argentine decade: 1970–1979
hierarchical_section_title: Copa Libertadores / History / Argentine decade: 1970–1979
caption_attribution_description: Photo of Estudiantes de La Plata taken in 1968
context_page_description: The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as the Copa Libertadores de América, is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in South American club football. The tournament is named after the Libertadores, the leaders of the South American wars of independence, so a literal translation of its former name into English would be "Liberators of America Cup".
  The competition has had several different formats over its lifetime. Initially only the champions of the South American leagues participated. In 1966, the runners-up of the South American leagues began to join. In 1998, Mexican teams were invited to compete, and contested regularly from 2000 until 2016. In 2000 the tournament was expanded from 20 to 32 teams. Today at least four clubs per country compete in the tournament, with Argentina and Brazil having the most representatives. A group stage has always been used but the number of teams per group has varied.
  In the present format, the tournament consists of eight stages, with the first stage taking place in late January.
context_section_description: The 1970s were dominated by Argentine clubs, with the exception of three seasons. In a rematch of the 1969 finals, Nacional emerged as the champions of the 1971 tournament after overcoming an Estudiantes squad depleted of key players. With two titles already under their belt, Independiente created a winning formula with the likes of Francisco Sa, José Omar Pastoriza, Ricardo Bochini and Daniel Bertoni: pillars of the titles of 1972, 1973, 1974, and 1975. Independiente's home stadium, La Doble Visera, became one of the most dreaded venues for visiting teams to play at. The first of these titles came in 1972 when Independiente came up against Universitario de Deportes of Peru in the finals. Universitario became the first team from the Pacific coast to reach the finals after eliminating Uruguayan giants Peñarol and defending champions Nacional at the semifinal stage. The first leg in Lima ended in a 0–0 tie, while the second leg in Avellaneda finished 2–1 in favor of the home team. Independiente successfully defended the title a year later against Colo-Colo after winning the playoff match 2–1. Los Diablos Rojos retained the trophy in 1974 after defeating São Paulo 1–0 in a hard-fought playoff. In 1975, Unión Española also failed to dethrone the champions in the finals after losing the playoff 2–0.
  The reign of Los Diablos Rojos finally ended in 1976 when they were defeated by fellow Argentine club River Plate in the second phase in a dramatic playoff for a place in the finals. However, in the finals River Plate themselves would be beaten by Cruzeiro of Brazil, which was the first victory by a Brazilian club in 13 years.
  After having the trophy elude them in 1963 at the hands of Pelé's Santos, Boca Juniors finally managed to appear on the continental football map. Towards the end of the decade, the Xeneizes reached the finals in three consecutive years. The first was in 1977 in which Boca earned their first victory against defending champions Cruzeiro. After both teams won their home legs 1–0, a playoff at a neutral venue was chosen to break the tie. The playoff match finished in a tense 0–0 tie and was decided by a penalty shootout. Boca Juniors won the trophy again in 1978 after thumping Deportivo Cali of Colombia 4–0 in the second leg of the finals. In the following year, it looked as though Boca Juniors would also achieve a triple championship, only to have Olimpia end their dream after a highly volatile second leg match in Buenos Aires. As in 1963, Boca Juniors had to watch as the visiting team lifted the Copa Libertadores in their home ground and Olimpia became the first (and, as of 2018, only) Paraguayan team to lift the Copa.
caption: The Estudiantes de La Plata squad that won the title in 1968, 1969 and 1970
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