The 2018 Copa Libertadores finals, also known as The Greater Final (La Gran Final) was the two-legged final to decide the winners of the 2018 Copa Libertadores, the 59th edition of the Copa Libertadores, South America's premier international club football tournament organised by CONMEBOL. The first leg was hosted by Boca Juniors at the Estadio Alberto J. Armando in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on 11 November 2018, while the second leg took place outside South America at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid, Spain (a neutral venue) on 9 December 2018. This was the last final to take place over two legs, as starting from 2019 the final would be played as a single match at a venue chosen in advance.
The finals were contested in a two-legged home-and-away format between Argentine clubs Boca Juniors and River Plate, making it, as of 2026, the only Superclásico final of an international competition and the only time both Copa Libertadores finalists represented the same country other than Brazil. As of 2026, this is also the last final to not feature a Brazilian team. This is also the last final not won by a club from Brazil.
The second leg was originally to be hosted by River Plate at the Estadio Monumental Antonio Vespucio Liberti in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on 24 November 2018. However, due to safety concerns arising from an attack on the Boca Juniors team bus prior to the match, CONMEBOL moved the second leg outside of Argentina and South America to a neutral venue, which was the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid, Spain. This was the first, and as of 2025, only time that the second leg of the Copa Libertadores final has been held outside of South America, and the first and only final held outside of the Americas.
River Plate won the final 5–3 on aggregate for their fourth Copa Libertadores title. As winners, they qualified as the CONMEBOL representative at the 2018 FIFA Club World Cup in the United Arab Emirates, entering in the semi-finals. They also earned the right to play against the winners of the 2018 Copa Sudamericana in the 2019 Recopa Sudamericana. River Plate also automatically qualified for the group stage of the 2019 Copa Libertadores.
Due to the intense rivalry between Boca and River, the match was referred to as the "Superfinal", and "the final to end all finals". The press called it the "most important final in Argentina's football history". According to Richard Martin, a Reuters reporter, River's win "guarantees them bragging rights over their neighbours for many years to come". The match is also known as the Madrid Final (Final de Madrid), December 9th Final (Final del 9 de diciembre) or shortened as 9/12 or 912. Sports commentators also dubbed it the "final of the century".
Background Prior to the 2018 final, Boca Juniors and River Plate had met on 24 occasions in the Copa Libertadores, although never previously in a title decider; going into the final, Boca held a narrow edge in the head-to-head, with ten wins to River's seven, and seven draws. The clubs were first drawn together in the 1966 edition, sharing a group in both the first and second phases; despite Boca winning three of the four meetings, it was River who advanced to that year's final. They met again in the group phase of 1970, with Boca again dominant, and in the group stages of 1977 and 1978, both editions in which Boca went on to be crowned champions. The two sides also shared groups in 1982 and 1986, with River progressing to the semi-finals on both occasions, and in 1991, when Boca won both fixtures and eliminated River at the group stage.
The first meeting in a knockout tie came in the 2000 quarter-finals, which Boca won on aggregate after a heavy first-leg defeat was overturned at La Bombonera, and the two clubs met again in the 2004 semi-finals, with Boca advancing on penalties. Their most recent previous meeting had come in the 2015 round of 16, where River led 1–0 on aggregate before Boca Juniors were disqualified and the tie awarded to River Plate, after River players were attacked with pepper spray by Boca Juniors fans as they emerged for the second half of the second leg.
Teams TeamPrevious finals appearances (bold indicates winners) Boca Juniors10 (1963, 1977, 1978, 1979, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2012) River Plate5 (1966, 1976, 1986, 1996, 2015)
For the third time, two teams from the same country faced each other in the final, after Brazilian teams met in the 2005 and 2006 finals. It was the first all-Argentine final of the Copa Libertadores, as well as the first final to feature two teams from the same city. The 2018 finals marked the first time that the Superclásico was contested in the Copa Libertadores final (or any final of an international competition), and the third time that the two clubs met in a final, after the 1976 Nacional championship final and the 2017 Supercopa Argentina.
River Plate had qualified for the tournament as runners-up of the 2016–17 Argentine Primera División and as champions of the 2016–17 Copa Argentina, their third national cup title, marking the club's 34th participation in the Copa Libertadores. Boca Juniors had entered as reigning champions of the 2016–17 Argentine Primera División, their 32nd domestic title, their 27th Copa Libertadores appearance overall.
Venues
La Bombonera, Boca Juniors' home ground, had a capacity of 54,525 at the time of the first leg. The Estadio Monumental, the originally scheduled venue for the second leg, held 66,266 spectators, while the Santiago Bernabéu, the eventual venue for the rearranged second leg, had a capacity of 81,044.
Road to the final
The competition proper started with the second stage, contested as eight double round-robin groups of four teams, with the top two qualifying for the knockout stages. The knockout stage ties were decided based on home and away matches, and teams were seeded according to their performance in the group stage to determine which team would play the second leg at their home ground. Boca JuniorsRound River PlateOpponentResultGroup stageOpponentResult Alianza Lima0–0 (A)Matchday 1 Flamengo2–2 (A) Junior1–0 (H)Matchday 2 Santa Fe0–0 (H) Palmeiras1–1 (A)Matchday 3 Emelec1–0 (A) Palmeiras0–2 (H)Matchday 4 Emelec2–1 (H) Junior1–1 (A)Matchday 5 Santa Fe1–0 (A) Alianza Lima5–0 (H)Matchday 6 Flamengo0–0 (H)Group H runners-upFinal standingsGroup D winners Seed 14Final stages Seed 4OpponentAgg.1st leg2nd legOpponentAgg.1st leg2nd leg Libertad6–22–0 (H)4–2 (A)Round of 16 Racing3–00–0 (A)3–0 (H) Cruzeiro3–12–0 (H)1–1 (A)Quarter-finals Independiente3–10–0 (A)3–1 (H) Palmeiras4–22–0 (H)2–2 (A)Semi-finals Grêmio2–2 (a)0–1 (H)2–1 (A)
Matches
First leg
Summary The first leg of the final was originally scheduled for 7 November, with the second leg on 28 November 2018 (both on Wednesdays). However, after the finalists were known, CONMEBOL adjusted the dates, with the first leg (hosted by Boca Juniors, the lower seed) on 10 November and the second leg (hosted by River Plate, the higher seed) on 24 November (both Saturdays at 16:00 local time). The Argentine Football Association opposed the date change. Following discussion, the final was moved to 17:00 local time. The first leg was postponed less than two hours before kickoff due to Boca Junior's pitch at the Estadio Alberto J. Armando being waterlogged due to local flooding. The match was rescheduled for the following day, 11 November, with the kickoff moved to 16:00 local time. The game was goalless until the 34th minute mark, when Ramón Ábila put Boca ahead, only for Lucas Pratto to equalise 90 seconds later. Dario Benedetto then restored Boca's lead, to make the score 2–1 at half-time. However, the game was to end all square at 2–2 after Carlos Izquierdoz scored an own goal for River Plate in the 61st minute.
Details
GK 12 Agustín RossiRB 29 Leonardo Jara CB 21 Carlos IzquierdozCB 6 Lisandro MagallánLB 20 Lucas OlazaCM 15 Nahitan NándezCM 16 Wílmar BarriosCM 8 Pablo Pérez (c)RF 22 Sebastián Villa CF 17 Ramón Ábila LF 7 Cristian Pavón Substitutes:GK 28 Carlos LampeDF 2 Paolo GoltzDF 24 Julio Buffarini MF 5 Fernando GagoFW 18 Darío Benedetto FW 19 Mauro ZárateFW 23 Carlos Tevez Manager: Guillermo Barros Schelotto GK 1 Franco ArmaniCB 2 Jonatan Maidana (c)CB 28 Lucas Martínez Quarta CB 22 Javier PinolaRWB29 Gonzalo MontielLWB20 Milton Casco CM 15 Exequiel PalaciosCM 24 Enzo Pérez CM 10 Gonzalo Martínez CF 19 Rafael Santos Borré CF 27 Lucas PrattoSubstitutes:GK 14 Germán LuxMF 5 Bruno Zuculini MF 8 Juan Fernando Quintero MF 18 Camilo MayadaMF 26 Ignacio Fernández FW 7 Rodrigo MoraFW 9 Julián ÁlvarezAssistant coach: Matías Biscay
Assistant refereesChristian Schiemann (Chile)Claudio Ríos (Chile)Fourth officialDiego Haro (Peru)Video assistant refereeJulio Bascuñán (Chile)Assistant video assistant refereesPiero Maza (Chile)Carlos Astroza (Chile)Match rules 90 minutes Seven named substitutes, of which up to three may be used
Second leg
Postponement and relocation to Madrid
Prior to the second leg of the final on 24 November, the Boca Juniors team bus was attacked en route to River Plate's stadium, the Estadio Monumental Antonio Vespucio Liberti. Multiple windows were broken by projectiles thrown from a crowd surrounding the bus, allowing pepper spray to enter the cabin, while police attempting to disperse the attackers fired tear gas, some of which also entered the vehicle. Several players were injured as a result of the broken glass and pepper spray, with the match delayed by one hour to 18:00 local time. The bus driver reportedly fainted during the attack, forcing the club vice-president to take the wheel to avoid a more serious accident, while Boca defender Pablo Pérez suffered a cut near his left eye, thought to have been caused by broken glass; footage of him afterwards walking into the dressing room without obvious signs of serious injury subsequently fuelled controversy over the extent of the players' injuries, after CONMEBOL's medical team was reportedly denied access to the away dressing room to examine them. Kickoff was later moved to 18:20 local time, and again to 19:15, before once more being delayed until 19:30. Amid the delays, further clashes broke out between River fans and police outside the stadium, and, following the delays, the match was rescheduled for the following day, 25 November, with the same kickoff, 17:00 local time. Former Boca Juniors and River Plate striker Gabriel Batistuta called the attacks "shameful". River Plate was later reprimanded for the bus attack, fined $400,000, and ordered to play two games behind closed doors in the Estadio Monumental.
The security failures surrounding the bus attack also had political repercussions in Argentina. Buenos Aires city security minister Martín Ocampo, who had been closely associated with then-Boca Juniors president Daniel Angelici, resigned days after the incident, while national security minister Patricia Bullrich publicly clashed with a journalist who presented recordings suggesting that security personnel assigned to the match had failed to act on orders intended to guarantee the safe passage of the Boca team bus.