- Independiente del Valle and Deportes Tolima will contest the second leg of their Round of 16 tie on Tuesday, August 25
- The winner will face Flamengo, champions of the 2025 edition, in the Quarter-finals
The CONMEBOL Libertadores 2026 Quarter-final lineup is awaiting its final team. Independiente del Valle will host Deportes Tolima on Tuesday, August 25, at 19:30 local time in Ecuador, at Estadio Banco Guayaquil, in the only Round of 16 tie yet to be decided.
The Ecuadorian side will begin the second leg with the advantage secured in Colombia. Arón Rodríguez headed home the only goal in a 1-0 victory at Estadio Manuel Murillo Toro following a cross from Emerson Pata, allowing Joaquín Papa’s team to return home with a narrow aggregate lead.
Tolima responded after falling behind and forced Aldair Quintana to emerge as one of the match’s key figures. The goalkeeper denied several efforts from the Colombian side, while Junior Hernández came close to equalising with a free-kick that struck the post. El Pijao were unable to turn that pressure into an equaliser, but showed enough to keep the tie firmly alive.
The first-leg result makes the possible scenarios for the return fixture clear. Independiente del Valle will advance with either a win or a draw, while Deportes Tolima must prevail by two or more goals to qualify within 90 minutes. A one-goal victory for the Colombian side will send the tie directly to a penalty shootout.
El Matagigantes will look to protect their advantage at a venue where they produced a perfect home record during the Group Stage. They won all three of their home matches, scoring eight goals and conceding only two. That form proved decisive as they finished top of Group H, ahead of Rosario Central.
Tolima’s journey began much earlier. The Colombian representatives overcame Deportivo Táchira and O’Higgins in the preliminary rounds before finishing second in Group B. After ten matches in the competition, they must secure their second away victory to extend a campaign that has already placed them among the continent’s 16 best teams.
The winner will face Flamengo in the next round. The CONMEBOL Libertadores 2025 champions eliminated Cruzeiro 3-2 on aggregate and now await either Independiente del Valle or Deportes Tolima in the Quarter-finals.
Match Details
Date: Tuesday, August 25, 2026
Kick-off: 19:30 local time in Ecuador
Stadium: Banco Guayaquil
Referee: Darío Herrera (Argentina)
VAR: Hernán Mastrángelo (Argentina)
Match Facts
- Independiente del Valle progressed on all four previous occasions when they won the first leg away from home in CONMEBOL competitions: three times in the Sudamericana (2014 First Round, 2019 Semi-finals and 2022 Quarter-finals) and once in the Libertadores (2017 First Stage).
- Independiente del Valle are unbeaten at home in CONMEBOL Libertadores knockout matches, recording eight wins and five draws across 13 games. Los Negriazules scored in 12 of those fixtures, with 23 goals in total.
- Deportes Tolima have played two away matches in Ecuador in the CONMEBOL Libertadores and remain unbeaten: a 1-0 victory over Macará in 2020 and a 2-2 draw against Independiente del Valle in 2022.
- Tolima recorded 68% possession in the first leg against Independiente del Valle, leaving Los Negriazules with one of their four lowest possession figures in CONMEBOL Libertadores history and their lowest since 2016. However, El Matagigantes have never had less possession than their opponents when playing at home at Estadio Banco Guayaquil.
- Half of Independiente del Valle’s goals in the CONMEBOL Libertadores 2026 have come from assists delivered directly from crosses (six of 12), including the winner in the first leg against Tolima. They have scored more goals from crosses than any other team in this year’s competition.
