Familiar story in Copa Libertadores

Brazilian teams continue to dominate South America's elite continental club competition as group stage concludes

- TIM VICKERY

Has the Copa Libertadores become too predictable? It is a fair criticism given the six consecutive Brazilian wins, an unprecedented period of domination by one country. At the end of this year’s group phase, with 16 teams eliminated and 16 going through to the knockout stages, there were very few surprises.

One does stand out, though. Universitario became the first Peruvian side to make it out of the group stage since 2013, grinding their way past two Ecuadorian teams, Independiente del Valle and Barcelona, with a respectable recent track record in the competition.

That aside, the accusation of predictability would appear to be confirmed by a glance at the list of qualifiers. But the way it happened was not as straightforward as might have been expected.

True, Palmeiras won all of their matches — the only team to do so — and Sao Paulo coasted through with scarcely a bump along the way. But life was not easy for all the Brazilian clubs. Reigning champions Botafogo, for example, needing to win their last game, had a man sent off early in the match before digging themselves out of a hole.