2007 Copa Libertadores finals

The 2007 Copa Libertadores finals was a two-legged football match-up to determine the 2007 Copa Libertadores champion. The series was contested between Argentine club Boca Juniors and Brazilian club Grêmio. The first leg of the tie was played on June 13 at Boca Juniors' home field, La Bombonera, with the second leg played on June 20 at Gremio's Estádio Olímpico. Boca Juniors won the series 5–0 on aggregate, achieving their sixth Copa Libertadores title.

2007 Copa Libertadores finals

Event	2007 Copa Toyota Libertadores
Boca Juniors Grêmio 5 0
on aggregate
First leg
Boca Juniors Grêmio 3 0
Date	13 June 2007
Venue	La Bombonera, Buenos Aires
Man of the Match	Juan Román Riquelme
Referee	Jorge Larrionda
Attendance	50,993
Second leg
Grêmio Boca Juniors 0 2
Date	20 June 2007
Venue	Estádio Olímpico, Porto Alegre
Man of the Match	Juan Román Riquelme
Referee	Óscar Ruiz
Attendance	53,952

Qualified teams

Team	Previous finals app.
Boca Juniors	1963, 1977, 1978, 1979, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004
Grêmio	1983, 1984, 1995

Bold indicates winning years

Venues

La Bombonera (Buenos Aires) and Estádio Olímpico (Porto Alegre), venues for the finals

Route to the finals

Grêmio			Boca Juniors
São Paulo A 0–1		Round of 16 First leg		Vélez Sársfield H 3–0	Riquelme 9' Palermo 61' Rodríguez 89'
São Paulo H 2–0	Tcheco 17' Diego Souza 74'	Second leg		Vélez Sársfield A 1–3	Bustos (o.g.) 32'
Defensor Sporting A 0–2		Quarterfinals First leg		Libertad H 1–1	Palermo 90'
Defensor Sporting H 2–0 (p. 4–2)	Tcheco 22' Teco 45'	Second leg		Libertad A 2–0	Riquelme 61' Palacio
Santos H 2–0	Tcheco 34' Carlos Eduardo 36'	Semifinals First leg		Cúcuta Deportivo A 1–3	Ledesma 27'
Santos A 1–3	Diego Souza 34'	Second leg		Cúcuta Deportivo H 3–0	Riquelme 44' Palermo 61' Battaglia 90'

Matches

First leg

13 June 2007

21:45 (UTC-3)

First leg

Boca Juniors	3–0	Grêmio
Palacio 18' Riquelme 73' Patrício 89' (o.g.)	Report

La Bombonera, Buenos Aires

Attendance: 50,993

Referee: Jorge Larrionda (Uruguay)

Boca Juniors

Grêmio

GK	12	Mauricio Caranta
CB	4	Hugo Ibarra	13'
CB	6	Cata Díaz
CB	3	Claudio Morel
RM	14	Rodrigo Palacio
CM	8	Pablo Ledesma
CM	24	Éver Banega	34'	81'
LM	21	Clemente Rodríguez
AM	19	Neri Cardozo	64'	67'
AM	10	Juan Román Riquelme	53'
CF	9	Martín Palermo (c)
Substitutes:
GK	25	Pablo Migliore
DF	2	Matías Silvestre
MF	5	Sebastián Battaglia		81'
MF	11	Bruno Marioni
MF	15	Guillermo Marino
FW	17	Mauro Boselli
MF	23	Jesús Datolo		67'
Manager:
Miguel Ángel Russo

GK	1	Sebastián Saja
RB	2	Patrício	15'
CB	4	William
CB	14	Teco
LB	16	Lúcio
DM	15	Sandro Goiano	53'  58'
RM	10	Tcheco (c)		80'
LM	22	Diego Gavilán
AM	11	Carlos Eduardo
CF	9	Tuta		72'
CF	7	Diego Souza
Substitutes:
GK	12	Galatto
DF	3	Rolando Schiavi
MF	5	Edmílson
DF	6	Bruno Teles
MF	8	Lucas Leiva		72'
MF	18	Ramón
FW	20	Douglas		80'
Manager:
Mano Menezes

Man of the Match: Juan Román Riquelme (Boca Juniors) Assistant referees: Wálter Rial Edgardo Acosta Fourth official: Líber Prudente

---

Second leg

20 June 2007

21:45 (UTC-3)

Second leg

Grêmio	0–2	Boca Juniors
	Report	Riquelme 69', 81'

Estádio Olímpico Monumental, Porto Alegre

Attendance: 51,851

Referee: Óscar Ruiz (Colombia)

Grêmio

Boca Juniors

GK	1	Sebastián Saja
RB	2	Patrício
CB	4	William
CB	14	Teco		35'
LB	16	Lúcio	88'
DM	8	Lucas Leiva	70'
RM	10	Tcheco (c)		46'
LM	22	Diego Gavilán
AM	11	Carlos Eduardo
CF	9	Tuta		70'
CF	7	Diego Souza	50'
Substitutes:
GK	12	Galatto
DF	3	Rolando Schiavi	84'	35'
DF	6	Bruno Teles
MF	18	Ramón
FW	19	Everton		70'
FW	20	Douglas
FW	21	Amoroso		46'
Manager:
Mano Menezes

GK	12	Mauricio Caranta
CB	4	Hugo Ibarra
CB	6	Cata Díaz
CB	3	Claudio Morel
RM	14	Rodrigo Palacio		87'
CM	8	Pablo Ledesma	74'
CM	24	Éver Banega		82'
LM	21	Clemente Rodríguez
AM	19	Neri Cardozo		59'
AM	10	Juan Román Riquelme
CF	9	Martín Palermo (c)
Substitutes:
GK	25	Pablo Migliore
DF	2	Matías Silvestre
MF	5	Sebastián Battaglia		59'
FW	11	Bruno Marioni
MF	16	Sergio Órteman		82'
FW	17	Mauro Boselli		87'
MF	23	Jesús Dátolo
Manager:
Miguel Ángel Russo

Man of the Match: Juan Román Riquelme (Boca Juniors) Assistant referees: Juan Carlos Bedoya Jovani Zapata Fourth official: Albert Duarte

Aftermath

Juan Román Riquelme was the most notable player of the competition, with 8 goals and 7 assists

With this appearance in the last stage Boca Juniors achieved a record-tie 9 times in the finals, winning five of the seven previous occasions. At that moment only Peñarol of Uruguay had played that number of finals. The media praised Juan Román Riquelme's performance in the finals, crediting him as Boca Juniors' most notable player. Riquelme had returned to Boca Juniors after a frustrating experience in Spanish club Villarreal where manager Manuel Pellegrini excluded him from the senior squad due to personal disputes. Under the guidance of manager Miguel Ángel Russo, Riquelme was the top scorer of the team (and second of the 2007 edition behind Salvador Cabañas with 8 goals in 11 matches, three of them in the finals.

Riquelme made it easy to win the Copa Libertadores

— Sergio Orteman, Riquelme's teammate in 2007

The (Libertadores) Cup is like the girl you want but she ignores you

— Miguel Ángel Russo, Boca Juniors manager

The 5–0 aggregate score remains nowadays as the largest victory in the history of Copa Libertadores' finals.

On the other hand, Grêmio –that had played three finals winning two of them– became the second Brazilian club with most Copa Libertadores finals contested (four until then), just behind of São Paulo who had six.