River Plate 3 Tigres UANL 0 (3-0 agg): Hosts win third Copa

River Plate clinched their third Copa Libertadores title with a 3-0 win over Tigres UANL in the second leg of the final on Wednesday.

Headers from Lucas Alario and Ramiro Funes Mori, either side of a Carlos Sanchez penalty, helped secure River’s win in Buenos Aires.

After a goalless first leg in Mexico, Alario headed in at the near post on the stroke of half-time to send River on their way to a third Copa title and first since 1996.

Sanchez was fouled in the penalty area and converted his spot-kick with 15 minutes remaining and Mori headed in a corner soon after.

The clash at the Estadio Monumental Antonio Vespucio Liberti saw nine yellow cards in a feisty encounter.

But, despite having former Marseille striker Andre-Pierre Gignac start up front, Tigres UANL rarely looked like scoring.

The first half was marred by 20 fouls as the visitors picked up four yellow cards and the home side were shown one of their own.

Both teams rarely threatened before River Plate opened the scoring in the 45th minute.

A smart turn by Leonel Vangioni led to him running at the Tigres defence before crossing for Alario, who headed down low at the near post.

Driving rain greeted the players to start the second half and neither team looked particularly threatening.

But a second goal for River would come.

Sanchez drove into the penalty area from the right and was clumsily brought down by Javier Aquino.

The Uruguayan stepped up to take the spot-kick, firing into the roof of the net as Nahuel Guzman dived to his right.

Just four minutes later and it was 3-0 as an unmarked Mori headed in a Leonardo Pisculichi corner to seal River’s triumph.