"50 años de pasión", "50 Years Of Passion." The 50th edition of South America's greatest club tournament is underway. The all important group stage is taking place with teams all over the continent vying for the Libertadores trophy and a spot in the FIFA Club World Cup.

The defending champions, Liga De Quito began their quest to repeat with an exciting 3-2 win over Palmeiras. Wálter Calderon scored twice in a back in forth affair with Damián Manso scoring the game winner in the 58th minute to put Liga atop Group 1 tied with Sport Recife of Brazil.

Speaking of Sport Recife, the Brazilian side pulled the surprise result of the week by beating Colo Colo 2-1 in Chile. The 2008 Copa Do Brazil champs jumped on Colo Colo early with goals in 7th minute by Ciro & right before half-time in the 44th by his strike partner Wilson. The Chileans replied in the 71st when their super striker Lucas Barrios scored but it wasn't enough to prevent Sport from getting the 3 points.

Perennial favorites, Boca Juniors edged a conservative Deportivo Cuenca side 1-0 at La Bombonera. Rodrigo Palacio scored for Los Xeneizes in the 13th minute to take down the Ecuadorian side.

Another pre-tourney favorite, São Paulo, had a disppointing start to their Libertadores campaign as Independiente Medellin almost pulled three points from The Morumbi. The Colombians took the lead in the 79th minute when 2nd half sub Luis Arias scored for the 1-0 lead but the Brazilian champs pushed and a 2nd half injury time goal from Borges salvaged a point for the Tricolor Paulista.

Here are the results from this week's matches:



Tuesday, February 17th

Group 1
Liga De Quito (ECU) 3 - 2 Palmeiras (BRA)
LDQ: Calderón (24' & 35'), Manso (58')
PAL: Willians Santana (28') & Edmilson (47')

Group 2
Boca Juniors (ARG) 1 - 0 Dep. Cuenca (ECU)
BOC: Palacio (12')

Group 6
Everton (CHI) 1 - 0 Caracas FC (VEN)
EVE: Gutiérrez (45')

Wednesday, February 18th

Group 1
Colo Colo (CHI) 1 - 2 Sport Recife (BRA)
COL: Barrios (70')
SPO: Ciro (6') & Wilson (44')

Group 3
Nacional (PAR) 0 - 3 Nacional Montevideo (URU)
NAC-U: Fernández (10'), Lodeiro (38'), Mondaini (63')

Group 4
São Paulo (BRA) 1 - 1 Dep. Ind. Medellin (COL)
SPO: Borges (90')
IND: Arias (79')

Thursday, February 19

Group 5
Cruzeiro (BRA) 3 - 0 Estudiantes LP (ARG)
CRZ: Fernandinho (pen 62'), Kléber (68' & 72')

Group 8
Universitario (PER) 1 - 0 San Lorenzo (ARG)
UNI: Solano (pen 21')