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The annual club battle between Brazil and Argentina revs up once more as the Copa Libertadores moves into the knockout stage this week.
Since a change of format in 2017 — making it a yearlong event rather than crammed into the first few months — the big two countries have dominated, and in 2022 they provide all but four of the 16 teams that will be whittled down to eight over the next two weeks.
In the past few campaigns, Brazil have held the upper hand, supplying the past three winners (Flamengo, Palmeiras x2) and both finalists in the previous two years (Palmeiras vs. Flamengo; Palmeiras vs. Santos.) The relative financial power of the Brazilian clubs continues to grow but, for a number of reasons, Argentine sides feel that they might be able to do better this time.
The country lost no clubs during the group phase: all six teams made it safely through, with the likes of Talleres and Colon doing better than expected and a young Velez Sarsfield side managing to save themselves after a bad start. And there is the guarantee of an Argentine semifinalist, as Talleres and Colon now meet each other, and the winner will move on to a quarterfinal against the victor of the clash between Velez Sarsfield and River Plate.
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Champions in 2019, River are the overwhelming favourites to come through this mini-Argentine championship, even though they will soon be saying a fond farewell to their star man, Manchester City-bound striker Julian Alvarez. It is true that River have made a disappointing start to the domestic Argentine season, but so have Velez, Talleres and Colon. Perhaps more important, though, is the mere fact that the Argentine sides are in competitive action.
Over the past few years, the Argentine clubs have paid a price at this point in the year. The…
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Source : espn
