Although he still has no certainty about the rival he will initially face, Boca You already know the path you will have to take towards the group stage of the Copa Libertadores. That path, not extremely demandingat least a priori, was drawn up this Thursday, when the crosses and keys for the preliminary phases of the main club competition in South America were drawn.
The draw, which took place at the headquarters of the South American Football Confederation in Luque (Paraguay), left the team led by Fernando Gago with a pinch of uncertainty, since it is one of the three teams that will directly enter the second preliminary phase that still does not have an assigned rival. This is because your opponent will emerge from one of the three junctions of the first phase.
This Friday, from Conmebol The calendar of the previous phase was announced and while waiting for its rival Boca already knows the date of its crossings in phase 2. The team Fernando Gago will debut as a visitor, in Asunción or Lima, the Tuesday February 18 at 9:30 p.m.; a week later, the mars 25will seek to celebrate the passage to phase 3 at home, in La Bombonera, at the same time.
Once phase 2 is resolved, the mother house of South American football will schedule the clashes for phase 3, the last preliminary round in which the winners will enter the groups and the losers will enter the Copa Sudamericana. In theory, this last phase will be played in the following two weeks, in March.
The first phase of the Copa Libertadores 2025 will take place in the weeks of February 5 and 12, and there He National of Ecuador will be measured with a Bolivian group (it will be defined this weekend, after the last date of the Clausura Tournament in that country) and Monagas of Venezuela will collide with Sporting Defender of Uruguay. But the attention of Boca supporters will be focused on the duel they will star in. Paraguayan National y Lima Alliance of Perusince the winner will be his opponent in the second phase.
Neither of these two teams has had a brilliant 2024 season. Nacional finished 10th among 12 participants in the Paraguayan Apertura Tournamentwhich Libertad won, and fifth in the Clausura, which was held by Olimpia. Thus, he finished eighth in the annual table, a position that would not have allowed him to access any subcontinental competition, but he entered the first phase of the Libertadores for having been the runner-up in the Paraguay Cup, since the champion, Libertad, had already qualified. had secured their place in the group stage as winner of the Apertura.
In 2024, the Tricolor He also played these initial phases of the Libertadores. In the first they eliminated Aucas from Ecuador and in the second, Atlético Nacional de Medellín, but in the third they were defeated on penalties by Palestino from Chile. That allowed him, at least, to compete in the South American Cup: finished last in group F, which they shared with Corinthians, Racing de Montevideo and Argentinos Juniors.
Nacional is directed by Entre Ríos Victor Bernay since April and in the Paraguayan football season that ended two weeks ago it had on its roster six Argentine footballers: defenders Sergio Ojeda, Juan Luis Alfaro and Juan Monteagudo; the midfielders Facundo Velazco and Juan Fernando Alfaro, and the forward Ignacio Bailone (Ojeda and Bailone have already separated).
Lima Alliancethe second most winning team in the history of Peruvian soccer (only surpassed by Universitario), finished fourth in the league of his country, behind the University champion, Sporting Cristal and Melgar. That modest fourth place gave him the chance to compete in the first round of the Libertadores.
The blue and white cast has a record that not many would like to show off: it participated in the group stage of the Copa Libertadores in six of the last seven editions, although in all of them it finished last in its area and He only won one of the 36 games he played (tied five and lost 30).
Conmebol’s director of club competitions, Frederico Nantes, supports the name of the Paraguayan team Nacional. Photo: EFE / Juan Pablo Pino,Alianza will face this challenge with an Argentine coach on its bench: Nestor Gorosito. Stocking cap He took office last week, replacing another compatriot, Mariano Soso, who had resigned in November to join Newell’s. In the coming days he will begin to outline the squad, which until these days was made up of five Argentines (defender Juan Pablo Freytes, midfielders Adrián Arregui, Catriel Cabellos and Gonzalo Aguirre, and forward Hernán Barcos) and also has two symbols of the Peruvian soccer: Carlos Zambrano y Paolo Guerrero.
The winner of that clash between Nacional and Alianza Lima will be Boca’s first obstacle on their way to the group stage. The first match of this second phase match will be played during the week of February 19 in the stadium of the winner of the first round duel, while the revenge will be a week later in the Bombonera.
If he Xeneizewinner of six editions of the Copa Libertadores, emerges victorious from that crossing, he will have to play his luck in the third and final preliminary round against the winner of the key in which they will star Sports Iquique of Chile e Independent Santa Fe de Bogotá.
The team from the Tarapacá region, in the far north of Chile, will compete for the third time in the Copa Libertadores (they did so in 2013 and 2017), which they entered for having finished in third place in their country’s league. Meanwhile, Independiente Santa Fe entered these preliminary rounds of the subcontinental tournament for having finished second in the annual table of the Colombian first division.
The matches of the third phase, which will be four, will be played on the weeks of March 5 and 12. If they access that instance, Boca would also define their duel as local. The four winners of this round will enter the group stage, while the losers will enter the group stage of the South American Cup.