2015 Copa Libertadores Round of 16 Preview: Argentina & Brazil clubs battle for title

With the incumbent champions San Lorenzo of Almagro knocked out in the group stages by Brazilian powerhouses Sao Paulo and Corinthians and three nations having no representative in this stage (Chile, Venezuela and Peru), this new edition of the second most important club continental tournament in the world kicks off tonight with the Round of 16 and one of those sixteen sides will look to become the most dominant force in all of South America.

Following a draw which seeds 16 sides (eight group winners and eight runner ups) into a home and away tie with group winners seeded 1–8, and the group runners-up seeded 9–16 facing off each other. In this Round of 16, we have six clubs looking to win their first ever Libertadores title, with the other ten looking to add another Copa into their trophy haul.

The most important of the draw will be on May 7th and 14th as the first Superclasico since 2004 in a Copa Libertadores happens between Boca Juniors and River Plate. Both are joint top of the table in the Argentine league as in a span of 11 days which sees this tie and a league match, bragging rights will be on the line for two sides who definitely have made quite a reversal in their own clubs within the last 5 months. For Boca, the number one seed in the tournament, they were unbeaten throughout the entire group stage with Dani Osvaldo becoming a revelation ever since leaving Europe and has became a hero at La Bombonera. River, on the other hand, had to battle their way out as they did not win a single match in their respective group before the last two matches, getting them the #16 seed as they look to take on their rivals, in what proves to be under an amazing atmosphere at both El Monumental and La Bombonera.

The Brazilian clubs as well will be looking to make an instant impact. Corinthians will travel to the Defensores del Chaco in Asuncion to take on surprise package Guarani of Paraguay as the Paraguayans have a huge mountain to climb if they want to repeat their compatriot clubs of making the finals in which Olimpia did in 2013 and Nacional in 2014, both losing respectively. In one of the two all Brazilian finals, Sao Paulo will host Cruzeiro at the Morumbi in what chooses to be an intriguing matchup between the Brazilian league champions and the Paulista club with Alexandre Pato, Rogerio Ceni and Luis Fabiano. The other one is Internacional of Porto Alegre traveling to Belo Horizonte to take on 2013 champions Atletico Mineiro as Andres D’Alessandro captains the side from Porto Alegre.

With all the matches beginning on the week of May 5-7, the first match will be tonight as Tigres UANL of Mexico travel to Sucre to take on Club Universitario of Bolivia to play in the altitude, which clearly does not have much an effect of the Mexican clubs. Universitario have done remarkably well to qualify from the group phase in only their second Libertadores campaign. But the goals for tally -- just four scored in six games -- shows the team's limitations, which allows the Mexican side with the advantage going into this tie as this Tigres squad was the one that topped their group with Sudamericana champions - - Europa League equivalent of South America - - River Plate.

With that, the following week is where all the matches come to place. The first one on May 5th sees Estudiantes de La Plata of Argentina hosting group winners Independiente Santa Fe of Colombia in which is a match where novice coach Gabriel Milito making his debut in this part of tournament over Mauricio Pellegrino’s sacking just days before the final l match of the group stage. The Colombians will be looking to depend on the highly promising young centre-back combination of Francisco Meza and Yerry Mina to help them in the process.

Gabriel’s brother Diego, will also be in the tournament as well. This time playing for Racing Club where with him and top goalscorer of the tournament with seven in Gustavo Bou as they travel to the Estadio Centenario to take on Montevideo Wanderers of Uruguay, a surprising story so far in the tournament coming out of a tough Group 5.

The other Colombian representative Atletico Nacional will travel to Guayaquil to face Emelec of Ecuador in which the Colombians look towards left-footed attacking midfielder Yulian Mejia and his relationship with centre-forward Luis Carlos Ruiz, both who have been revelations going into the group stage so far coming out of a tough Group 7 with Estudiantes. The Ecuadorians will be looking at striker Miler Bolaños to help them on goals.

The tournament should definitely should not be overlooked anytime soon by football fans alike as this is the stage where some rising new talents from South America will be on the lookout and scouted heavily by Europe’s big clubs.

Matchups: (local time)

April 28:

Universitario (Bolivia) vs UANL (Mexico) @ 20:30

May 5:

Estudiantes de la Plata (Argentina) - Independiente Santa Fe (Colombia) @ 20:45

Tigres UANL - Universitario @ 21:00

May 6:

Guarani (Paraguay) - Corinthians (Brazil) @ 18:45

Sao Paulo vs. Cruzeiro (Brazil) @ 22:00

Atletico Mineiro vs Internacional @ 22:00

May 7:

Montevideo Wanderers (Uruguay) vs. Racing Club (Argentina) @ 18:45