Article by John Manenti
Upon the creation by UEFA of the most important European football event at club level, i.e. the Champions Cup – not the oldest, given that the Central European Cup (or Mitropa Cup) had already taken place at the end of the 1920s, moreover reserved only for the formations of Austria, Czechoslovakia, Italy and Hungary, with subsequent enlargement also to Romania, Switzerland and Yugoslavia – which sees its inaugural edition in the 1955-’56 seasonbeyond the ocean CONMEBOL (Confederacion Sudamericana de Futbol) replies after four years with the birth of the Copa Libertadores …
To tell the truth, already in February/March 1948 a Tournament – to which we have dedicated a specific article – called “South American Championship of Champions” in which they take part 7 teams representing Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Peru and Uruguay, who challenge each other in an Italian round at the conclusion of which victory goes to Vasco da Gama with 10 points, ahead of River Plate and Nacional Montevideo on 9 and 8 respectively, even if no further follow-up is given.
On the contrary, the initiative taken in the Old Continent has the consequence that also in South America the idea of a similar competition comes forward, which CONMEBOL approves in 1959 so that the first edition will take place the following year – as known, in the southern hemisphere the season follows the solar year unlike what happens in Europe – giving it the denomination of “America’s Champions Cup”, in the same way as the Champions Cup organized by UEFA and in which the clubs of the respective national championships of the 10 countries registered in the South American Federation are therefore entitled to participate …
Moreover, given the aforementioned number of participants, already after the first five editions the Tournament is also extended to the runners-up teams, which is why the denomination varies in the current Copa Libertadores de America (or, more simply, Copa Libertadores …) to pay homage to the Independence Heroes of Latin American countries, so much so that, by extension, however, the roll of honor remains unique, so that the winner of the inaugural tournament held from 19 April to 19 June 1960 is in all respects considered to be the first to have won the Trophy which, among other things, has always remained the same, while the formula has increasingly expanded due to the number of participants along the same lines as what happened in Europe with the creation of the Champions League.
The difficulties arise from an organizational point of view, given the greater distances that separate the various countries of South America and, in fact, of the 10 potential participating Clubs, only 7 register for the first editionas Ecuador, after the first national championship held in 1957, does not see any contested for the next two years, while the Venezuelan football federation is not interested in the event and the Peruvian federation refuses to cover travel expenses which the University of Lima would have met …
Attitude, the latter, which favors the Paraguayans of Olimpia of Asuncion who, combined with the formation of the Peruvian capital, directly access the semifinalswhile the other mates put opposite the Colombians of the Millonarios of Bogotà to the Chileans of the Universidad of Santiagowith the Uruguayans of the Penarol Montevideo to contend with the Bolivians of Jorge Wilstermann of La Paz and the ultimate challenge to field the Argentines from San Lorenzo de Almagro and Brazilians from Bahia di Salvador, the latter as winners of the Taça Brasil, given that the national championship was born only in 1971.
And, as in all the inaugural editions of any tournament, the “first times”, i.e. the The first race to be staged was the one between Penarol and Jorge Wilstermann which took place on April 19, 1960 at the “Centennial Stadium” of Montevideo in front of 35,000 spectators and who sees the hosts impose themselves with a clear 7-1 and on the left wing Carlos Borges touch the privilege of scoring the first goal of the Eventwith the score set at 3-0 already after just 20′ of play, before it was time to go wild Ecuadorian center forward Carlos Spencer with a quadworthy appetizer of what will be his characteristic of deadly striker that leads him to be nicknamed “Mister Libertadores“, given that his total tally of 54 hits in the 87 games played it is still far from only approached …
The return to La Paz is a formality, concluded on the score of 1-1, as they have not no difficulty in getting past the Colombian side Millonarios, who mortgage the semifinals already in the first leg in Santiago de Chile with a sensational 6-0 (with braces from Marino Klinger and Ruben Antonio Pizarro …), to then administer the advantage in the return match, limiting himself to winning 1-0, with Pizarro still scoring …
As logic dictated, the most balanced challenge proves to be the one between San Lorenzo and Bahiadespite the fact that the Argentines take a good margin in the first leg match with a peremptory 3-0, moreover gained in the final, given that Oscar Pablo Rossi unlocks the result at game timebefore in the last 10′ rounding off the score it’s up to a Miguel Angel Ruiz and then to José Francisco Sanfilippo from a penaltya reassuring advantage in view of the return even more corroborated by the opening goal by Sanfilippo, which was repeated just before the stroke of the 60′ to frustrate the goals by Carlito and Flavio who had deluded the 18,000 fans present in the stands of theFonte Nova Stadium”, so that Marito’s point one minute from the end for the final 3-2 in favor of the hosts only sounds like a partial consolation.
The feast of goals in the first round (25 in 6 games, average 4.2 per match …), is drastically reduced during the semifinals, which see Penarol and San Lorenzo were the first to take the field, with the first leg match played on 18 May 1960 in Montevideo ending with the result of 1-1 with a “question and answer” in the first 20′ by Carlos Abel Linazza for the hosts and reply by Norberto Boggio for the guests, while in the return the match does not unlock from the starting 0-0thus making it necessary playoff which takes place on May 29 again in Montevideo and which resolves itself in a fiery finale because, after Spencer had given the lead at the start of the second half, in the 88th minute Sanfilippo restores parity, before, after only one lap of the clock, it is Spencer again who signs the final point 2-1 which sends the Uruguayan Club to play the first of the 10 Finals of its history …
On the same day, in Bogota, Millonarios and Olimpia Asuncion end their match 0-0so that it is the return match he sees that is decisive Olimpia prevailed 5-1 with negligible ease, with qualification already on the ice (3-0 brace from Luis Doldan …) at the end of the first halfwith Pizarro’s flag goal arriving just over a quarter of an hour from the end with a score of 5-0.
Appointment therefore on 12 and 19 June 1960 for the Finale which – as usual and until 2018 – is played with round-trip matches, with the Penarol to host the first challenge at the “Centennial Stadium” which this time attracts 45,000 spectators and whose direction of the match is entrusted to the Chilean referee Carlos Robles, with the hosts taking a slim margin of advantage thanks to the paw of the usual Spencer just over 10′ from the end, after the guests had remained in 10 for the expulsion of Juan Lezcano, but decided to play it all a week away at the “Port Saxony Stadium”, packed in every order of seats by 35,000 fans hoping for a comeback …
Hope that materializes when, just before the hour of the game, Hipolito Recalde puts Olimpia in front, with the 1-0 that resists until almost the end of the match before the right wing, as well as the Uruguayan international, Luis Cubilla scored one of the most important goals of his career when there were only 7′ left in the match and which gives Penarol its first Copa Libertadores.
The prestigious Club of the Capital Montevideo is one of the absolute protagonists of the Tournament in the first decade, reaching the final act on five other occasions – victories in 1961 and 1966 and defeats in 1962, 1965 and 1970, all with the often mentioned Spencer as the protagonist – while Olimpia, for its part, will be able to redeem the disappointment of his debut establishing himself in 1979 and therefore living his own “Period of Glory” at the turn of the 90sreaching the Final for three consecutive editions, defeated in 1989 and 1991 and victorious in 1990 …
This, friends, is the Copa Libertadores de America…!!
