page_title: History of the Copa Libertadores
section_title: 1960–1961: Peñarol's Historic Justice
hierarchical_section_title: History of the Copa Libertadores / Beginnings / 1960–1961: Peñarol's Historic Justice
caption_attribution_description: Español: Peñarol campeón de Copa Libertadores en 1961. de izquierda a derecha, parados: Walter Aguerre, Luis Maidana, Néstor Gonçalves, William Martínez, Dante Cocito (kinesiólogo), Núber Cano, Edgardo González, Luis Gutiérrez; agachados: Luis Cubilla, Alberto Spencer, Ángel Cabrera, José Sasía, Ernesto Ledesma.
context_page_description: The Copa Libertadores is the most important international football club competition in South America. Throughout the history of the tournament, 22 teams from seven countries have won the competition. Its rich history has been saturated with many legendary matches, iconic players and exceptional teams; from Peñarol's historical consegration in 1960, to Coutinho and Pelé enchanting the world with Santos's magical football, down to Estudiantes's unlikely success at the end of the 1960s, and Club Atlético Independiente being brought to glory in the utmost manner.
  Juan Carlos Lorenzo's legendary upbringing of Boca Juniors, seeing Flamengo engrave their names on the winner's list at the hands of a squad led by Zico, René Higuita's memorable saves against Olimpia, São Paulo's time dos sonhos coached by legend Telê Santana and Carlos Bianchi's exploits with Boca Juniors and Vélez Sársfield are some of the more recent stories still talked about till this day. The Copa Libertadores is, arguably, the most important club trophy in the world.
  The sport was introduced to South America in many different ways.
context_section_description: The first entrants of the inaugural edition included seven national champions: Bahia of Brazil, Jorge Wilstermann of Bolivia, Millonarios of Colombia, Olimpia of Paraguay, Peñarol of Uruguay, San Lorenzo of Argentina and Universidad de Chile of Chile. Peru, Ecuador and Venezuela did not send any representatives. Carlos Borges of Peñarol scored the first goal of the tournament, with teammate and legendary figure Alberto Spencer scoring the first hat-trick. They will become fundamental figures for Peñarol as the manyas begun their journey with a crushing 7–1 victory over Jorge Wilstermann in the first leg. After a 1–1 draw in the second leg, they progressed to the semifinal stage where they faced the San Lorenzo of José Sanfilippo; after drawing both matches of the semifinal series, the boardmembers of the Ciclón allowed the tie-breaking match to be held at Peñarol's home stadium, the Estadio Centenario, in exchange for economic incentives. This move was quietly criticized by the San Lorenzo players and they went out of the tournament after a 2–1 defeat. In the finals, Peñarol would face Olimpia with the first match being played in Montevideo. The Paraguayans managed to keep the score goalless until 11 minutes from full-time when Spencer broke the deadlock to take a 1–0 victory to Asunción; and in a highly charged atmosphere in the Manuel Ferreira stadium, Luis Cubilla scored at the 83rd minute to tie a match Peñarol was losing since the first half, and give his club the honor of becoming the first ever champions of the competition.
  The second edition of the tournament saw Ecuador and Peru send a representative to the tournament. Peñarol opened their title defense with a 5-0 thrashing over Universitario; the large scoreline allowed the champions to cruise to the semifinals with a 2–0 defeat to face Olimpia, in a rematch of the previous year's final. However, Peñarol swept aside Olimpia with a 3–1 victory at home and a 1–2 triumph away in order to contest their second, consecutive final, this time against Brazilian giants Palmeiras. Like last year's final, Peñarol managed a 1–0 victory in the first leg thanks to another late goal from Alberto Spencer at the 89th minute. In the second leg, Peñarol managed to come away with a 1–1 tie to retain the title. Due to the great contributions made by Peñarol's board directors in the creation of the Copa Libertadores, the success of the Manyas in this two editions are widely considered a "historical justice" well earned.
caption: The Peñarol team that became the first ever champions of the competition.
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