The 2015 Copa Libertadores de América Finals were the two-legged final that decided the winner of the 2015 Copa Libertadores de América, the 56th edition of the

Copa Libertadores de América The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as the Copa Libertadores de América ( pt, Copa Libertadores da América), is an annual international club association football, football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level ...

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

's premier international club

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

tournament organized by

CONMEBOL The South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL, , or CSF; es, Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol; pt, Confederação Sul-Americana de Futebol) is the continental governing body of football in South America (apart from Guyana, Suri ...

. The finals were contested in two-legged home-and-away format between Mexican team UANL and Argentine team River Plate. The first leg was hosted by UANL at Estadio Universitario in

San Nicolás de los Garza San Nicolás de los Garza, sometimes known only as San Nicolás, is a city and coextensive municipality in the Mexican state of Nuevo León that is part of the Monterrey metropolitan area. It has become primarily a city for residences and family h ...

on 29 July 2015, while the second leg was hosted by River Plate at

Estadio Antonio Vespucio Liberti Estadio Monumental (), officially Estadio Mâs Monumental for sponsorship reasons,Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

on 5 August 2015. Club Atlético River Plate earned the right to represent

at the 2015 FIFA Club World Cup, entering at the semifinal stage, regardless of the result of the final, due to UANL being an invited team from

CONCACAF The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football,, ; french: Confédération de football d'Amérique du Nord, d'Amérique centrale et des Caraïbes, . Dutch uses the English name. abbreviated as CONCACAF ( ; typese ...

and therefore not eligible to represent CONMEBOL at the tournament. Due to the same reason, Club atlético River Plate also earned the right to play against the 2015 Copa Sudamericana winners in the 2016 Recopa Sudamericana. The first leg ended in a scoreless draw. The second leg ended in a 3–0 win for River Plate, and they won the tournament for the third time in their history.

Teams

UANL came into the finals as first-time finalists of the Copa Libertadores. River Plate had previously won two titles in four finals:

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

and

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

Road to the finals

''Note: In all scores below, the score of the home team is given first.''

Format

The finals were played on a home-and-away

two-legged In sports (particularly association football), a two-legged tie is a contest between two teams which comprises two matches or "legs", with each team as the home team in one leg. The winning team is usually determined by aggregate score, the sum o ...

basis. If tied on aggregate, the

away goals rule The away goals rule is a method of tiebreaker, tiebreaking in association football and other sports when teams play each other twice, once at each team's home ground. Under the away goals rule, if the total goals scored by each team are equal, the ...

would not be used, and 30 minutes of

extra time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played onl ...

would be played. If still tied after extra time, the

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pen ...

would be used to determine the winner. Since UANL are from Mexico, they had to host the first leg regardless of seeding (Regulations Article 3.7b: ''"El Torneo deberá indefectiblemente finalizar en un país perteneciente al continente sudamericano. Para tal caso, de llegar a las finales un equipo que no pertenece al continente sudamericano, deberá indefectiblemente jugar su primer partido de local."'' English translation: ''"The Tournament shall invariably end in a country belonging to the South American continent. Therefore, provided that a team not belonging to the South American continent qualifies to the finals, it shall invariably play the first leg at its home."'')

Matches

First leg

Near the end of the first half, Tigres defender

Hugo Ayala Hugo Ayala Castro (born 31 March 1987) is a Mexican former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. Club career Atlas Hugo Ayala started his professional career with Atlas. He made his official debut in 2006 as a starter against C ...

left the game with an ankle injury. River Plate right-back

Gabriel Mercado Gabriel Iván Mercado (born 18 March 1987) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays for Internacional. Mainly a right back, he could also play as a central defender. He began his career with Racing Club and Estudiantes before joining ...

was booked soon after for a stamp on

André-Pierre Gignac André-Pierre Christian Gignac (born 5 December 1985) is a French professional footballer who plays as a striker for Liga MX club Tigres UANL. Gignac is described as a "powerful and dangerous" striker who is known for his "aerial presence". He ...

, leading him to miss the second leg. At the break, River manager

Marcelo Gallardo Marcelo Daniel Gallardo (; born 18 January 1976) is an Argentine football coach and former professional player who last managed River Plate. Gallardo began his career in the club's youth divisions, and made his debut in the Argentine Primera D ...

made an attacking double substitution, withdrawing

Rodrigo Mora Rodrigo Nicanor Mora Núñez (born 29 October 1987) is a former Uruguayan professional footballer who played as a striker. Club career Born in Rivera, Mora started his professional career with modest Juventud de Las Piedras. In 2008, aged 20, ...

and

Tabaré Viúdez Tabaré may refer to: * ''Tabaré'' (poem), an 1888 epic poem by Juan Zorrilla de San Martín * Tabaré (given name), including a list of people with the name * Tabare Rural LLG, Papua New Guinea * ''Tabaré'' (opera by Alfonso Broqua), an oper ...

for Gonzalo Martínez and

Nicolás Bertolo Nicolás Santiago Bertolo (born 2 January 1986) is an Argentinian professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Midfielder#Winger, winger for Club Atlético Banfield, Banfield in the Argentine Primera División. His nickname is '' ...

, but was also suspended after shouting at the fourth official. Despite Tigres having most of the possession and late opportunities from Juninho and

Jürgen Damm Jürgen Damm Rascón (born 7 November 1992) is a Mexican professional footballer who plays as a winger for Liga MX club América. According to a study conducted by Mexican club Pachuca, and backed by FIFA, Damm was the second fastest player ...

, the game ended goalless. Estadio_Universitario_UANL

Second leg

River opened the scoring at the end of the first half when recent signing Alario headed Leonel Vangioni's low cross from the left into the goal. At 8' Lucas Alario committed an illegal strong entry against the

ankle The ankle, or the talocrural region, or the jumping bone (informal) is the area where the foot and the leg meet. The ankle includes three joints: the ankle joint proper or talocrural joint, the subtalar joint, and the inferior tibiofibular join ...

Guido Pizarro Guido Hernán Pizarro Demestri (born 26 February 1990) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Liga MX club Tigres UANL. He is nicknamed "Conde" (Spanish for Count), and is a naturalized Mexican citizen. ...

, foul that media later considered that deserved

red card A red card is a type of penalty card that is shown in many sports after a rules infraction. Red card may also refer to: Art, entertainment, and media * ''Red Card'' (album), 1976 release by Streetwalkers * Red card, suit (cards) of hearts or d ...

. Alario saw

yellow card Yellow card may refer to: * Yellow card (sport), shown in many sports after a rules infraction or, by analogy, a serious warning in other areas * Yellowcard, an American alternative rock band * Yellow Card Scheme, a United Kingdom initiative conce ...

. At 25', Tigres had four players with yellow card, three of them defenders. At 46'

Ramiro Funes Mori José Ramiro Funes Mori (; born 5 March 1991) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a defender for Liga MX club Cruz Azul. He plays primarily as a centre-back but can also operate as a left-back and defensive midfielder. Early ...

committed another illegal strong entry, this time against

Rafael Sóbis Rafael Augusto Sóbis do Nascimento (born 17 June 1985) is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a forward. Before joining Ceará, Sóbis played for Internacional, Real Betis, Al-Jazira, Fluminense and Tigres UANL. He won t ...

, foul that media also later considered that deserved red card. Funes Mori was amonestated. When Carlos Sánchez went down in the penalty area, he scored the resulting spot kick, shooting to the left of the goalkeeper to double the team's lead. Four minutes later, a corner kick from the right was headed by

through the legs of the goalkeeper to secure a 3–0 victory, River's first Copa Libertadores for 19 years. The match was played under a heavy rainfall and polemic arbitration. RiverPlateStadium

References

External links

*
Copa Libertadores 2015
CONMEBOL.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Copa Libertadores Finals 2015 *Finals

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

Tigres UANL matches Club Atlético River Plate matches 2014–15 in Mexican football 2015 in Argentine football