Funes scores and River Plate win their first Copa Libertadores

River Plate had been close to the Copa Libertadores twice. In 1966 they were two goals up against Peñarol in a third match in Santiago and lost 4–2. In 1976 they lost to Cruzeiro in another play-off. Ten years later, under Héctor "Bambino" Veira, they reached their third final.

Their first group had Boca Juniors, Peñarol and Montevideo Wanderers in it, and their semi-final group had Argentinos Juniors, the holders, and Ecuador's Barcelona.

Their opponents were América de Cali. Gabriel Ochoa Uribe's side won five Colombian titles in a row between 1982 and 1986, and this was their second successive final: in 1985 they had lost to Argentinos in a play-off in Asunción, on penalties.

Cali

The first leg was at the Estadio Pascual Guerrero in Cali on 22 October. Juan Gilberto Funes scored after 23 minutes and Norberto Alonso three minutes later. Roberto Cabañas pulled one back for América at the start of the second half, but River took a 2–1 lead home.

The Monumental

The second leg was on Wednesday 29 October, at the Monumental in Buenos Aires. Colombia's El Espectador later wrote that every seat was taken by one person, or even two.

For more than an hour América held out. Then Enrique made a decisive clearance in midfield to win the ball back, and in the 68th minute Funes, "el Búfalo", scored. River won 1–0, 3–1 on aggregate. After two lost finals and twenty years, River Plate were champions of South America.

After

River also won the Argentine league that season. In December they went to Tokyo and beat Steaua București 1–0 in the Intercontinental Cup, Antonio Alzamendi scoring from Alonso's pass.

América kept coming back. They lost the 1987 final to Peñarol, beaten by a last-minute goal from Diego Aguirre in extra time of a play-off in Santiago, and in 1996 they lost another final to River.