Without a group of death in the Libertadores, Brazilian teams are even more favorites

The Copa Libertadores 2024 draw was favorable to Brazilian clubs. Unlike previous years, no representative from Brazil starts the competition under threat of falling into the group stage. The one who did best was Botafogo, who, having come from the preliminary phase, came out on top by escaping the six odds of facing a national opponent.

In the LDU bracket, Junior Barranquilla and Universitario, the black and white team shares favoritism with the Ecuadorians, current champions of the Copa Sudamericana. Galo, given the possible scenarios, for being in pot 2, is also grateful for having fallen into Peñarol’s group, the most viable seed. Despite the bad memories awakened by Rosario Central, tormentors in the old Copa Conmebol, the team from Minas Gerais is the favorite in the group completed by Caracas.

On the other hand, Grêmio, who faces the cupmaker Estudiantes and the altitude of La Paz against The Strongest, and Palmeiras, who faces Independiente Del Valle and measures forces with San Lorenzo, champion for 10 years, have the most important missions. complicated. Still, without losing their status as the greatest powers in their respective groups, just like Flamengo, who, despite facing altitude against Bolívar and Millonarios, in addition to a long trip to Bogotá amid Carioca’s decision, finds a very accessible bracket .

Without a “group of death”, Brazilian teams are even more favorites to maintain their hegemonic position in the continental tournament. Since 2019, over the last five years of Brazilian football’s sovereignty in the Libertadores, only four national teams ended up eliminated after falling into the so-called groups of death.

In 2020, São Paulo came third in the bracket headed by River Plate and LDU. The following year, the then runner-up Santos succumbed in the group with The Strongest and the classified Barcelona de Guayaquil and Boca Juniors.

In 2022, América-MG and Red Bull Bragantino finished at the bottom of the brackets of Atlético-MG, Tolima and Independiente Del Valle and Estudiantes, Vélez and Nacional-URU, respectively. Last year, the only Brazilian eliminated in the group stage was Corinthians when they lost their place to Argentinos Juniors, who will now be opponents in the South American Championship, but, at the time, were not among the competition’s main rivals.

Given the financial disparity in relation to other countries in South America, falling into groups of death no longer represents as daunting an obstacle for Brazilian teams as it did in the 1990s and 2000s. Fluminense says so. Far from having one of the biggest budgets in Brazil, the Rio tricolor not only survived the same group as River Plate in 2021 and 2023, but also ranked first in both editions, and in the last one, they became champions in the final against the Mouth. This time, the group formed by Cerro Porteño, Alianza Lima and Colo-Colo is much less ungrateful.

Grêmio and Inter crossed paths in 2020 – and advanced, despite good competition with Universidad Católica and América de Cali. As teams from neighboring countries have become more fragile, the clashes feared by Brazilians are precisely local opponents, a scenario avoided by Botafogo.

However, even when they fell into the same group (with the exception of América, in 2022), the national teams did not encounter major problems in qualifying. Just like the duo Grenal, Atlético and Athletico Paranaense reached the round of 16 together in the last edition, beating the always competitive Libertad, from Paraguay.

In its first participation in the Libertadores, Fortaleza defeated the traditional Colo-Colo in the group led by River, two years ago. And all these recent examples indicate that, even more so now, with five seeds and no groups of death, Brazilian football has an open path to becoming the champion of America for the sixth consecutive year.