Sporting Cristal has regained joy after a poor local streak of five winless games that they were able to break on May 13th in Tarapoto, mercilessly beating Unión Comercio 6-1 in the second round of the Torneo Apertura of Liga 1 2023. This result calms the turbulent waters that had been hitting the Rímac in recent weeks.
Celeste fans have been able to end this championship weekend in a good way, but now they have another reason to be proud of their team, as Conmebol made public a luxury ranking on Sunday, May 15th, featuring some of the greatest football clubs on the continent.
The South American football governing body, through its data account 'Conmebol Stats', greeted Nacional de Montevideo on their anniversary by placing the Top 10 teams with the most matches played in the history of the Copa Libertadores, a list led by 'Bolso' with 410 matches played. The rimenses also appear on this list, ranking as the ninth club with the most matches played, totaling 242.
In this honorary ranking, there are very important teams in their countries and in the continent, including winners of the most important club tournament in the region such as River Plate (385 matches played), Peñarol (375 matches played), Olimpia (335 matches played), Boca Juniors (321 matches played), and Colo Colo (250 matches played). The list is completed by Cerro Porteño (332 matches played), Bolívar (248 matches played), and Barcelona SC (238 matches played).
Cristal is the Peruvian team with the most participations in the Libertadores. If we add this year's edition, they have participated in 38 tournaments in their different phases, highlighting above all the 1997 campaign when they reached the final against Cruzeiro from Brazil, but couldn't take home the 'Gloria Eterna'.
The team led by Tiago Nunes will play their 243rd match in the Copa Libertadores on Thursday, May 25th, when they host River Plate at the Estadio Nacional in Lima for the fourth matchday of Group D.