THE COPA LIBERTADORES OLDEST PLAYERS
The mighty old men in Copa Libertadores
Two over-40 goal-scorers, Roque Santa Cruz (picture) and Hernán Barcos, were protagonists in the 4th matchday of the Copa Libertadores 2024.
*The evergreen Roque Santa Cruz is still capable of scoring important goals at a high level for his club Libertad.
His goal against Deportivo Tachira earned Libertad a 1–1 draw. The age of the Paraguayan forward on this day was 42 years 265 days.
He came in 2nd place in the ranking of oldest scorers in the history of tournament, slightly behind only Zé Roberto.
Looking at all the major club tournaments in South America, Santa Cruz is now in 3rd place, conceding so far also to the Uruguay Richard Pellejero who stunned in 2019 by scoring a brace in a Copa Sudamericana (CSA) game at the age of 43 years 31 days.
Besides this, Roque Santa Cruz increased his amazing record of the longest span between two goals scored in the Copa Libertadores.
His first goal in the competition is dated by 24 February 1999, so this span is moved to 25 days 73 days: something unprecedented for any international club competition worldwide, not only Copa Libertadores!
*Hernán Barcos from Alianza Lima became in the game vs Cerro Porteño (1-1) the first ever Argentine player over 40 years of age to score a goal in the Copa Libertadores.
He also became the oldest player to score for Alianza in the competition, surpassing Wilmer Aguirre that scored at 38 years 360 days on 5 May 2022
vs Colo-Colo (1-1).
Another historical achievement of “El Pirata” is that he scored again in Copa Libertadores after 10 years of break. Last time he did it with Gremio on 11 April 2014 (1-0).
| OLDEST | GOAL | SCORERS | |||||
| MAJOR | SOUTH | AMERICAN | CLUB | COMPETITIONS | |||
| Player | Nationality | Club | Age | Game | Date | Comp. | |
| 1 | Richard Pellejero | Uruguay | Cerro | 43-031 | UT Cajamarca 3-1 | 30/04/2019 | CSA |
| 2 | Zé Roberto | Brazil | Palmeiras | 42-322 | Atlético Tucumán 3-1 | 24/05/2017 | CL |
| 3 | Roque Santa Cruz | Paraguay | Libertad | 42-265 | Tachira 1-1 | 08/05/2024 | CL |
| 4 | José Sand | Argentina | Lanús | 41-292 | Barcelona Guayaquil 1-1 | 05/05/2022 | CSA |
| 5 | Óscar Aguirregaray | Uruguay | Peñarol | 41-189 | Vasco da Gama 1-3 | 02/05/2001 | CL |
| 6 | Diego Scotti | Uruguay | Boston River | 41-116 | Jaguares Córdoba 3-0 | 10/05/2018 | CSA |
| 7 | Jaime Ramírez | Chile | San Felipe | 40-213 | Universitario 1-3 | 21/03/1972 | CL |
| 8 | Maxi Rodríguez | Argentina | Newell's | 40-118 | Libertad 1-3 | 30/04/2021 | CSA |
| 9 | Rogério Ceni | Brazil | São Paulo | 40-085 | Atlético Mineiro 2-0 | 17/04/2013 | CL |
| 10 | Carlos Borja | Bolivia | Bolívar | 40-056 | Oriente Petrolero 4-0 | 19/02/1997 | CL |
| 11 | Óscar Cardozo | Paraguay | Libertad | 40-054 | Tigre 2-1 | 13/07/2023 | CSA |
| 12 | Esteban Paredes | Chile | Colo Colo | 40-046 | Peñarol 2-1 | 16/09/2020 | CL |
| 13 | Hernán Barcos | Argentina | Alianza Lima | 40-027 | Cerro Porteño 1-1 | 09/05/2024 | CL |
| 14 | Gabriel González | Paraguay | Olimpia | 40-019 | Cruzeiro 3-4 | 06/04/2001 | CL |