The knockout stages of the Copa Libertadores begins this week with 16 teams. Come the end of the month, only four will be left standing. And ahead of such a decisive August, the dominant tone is one of turmoil.

That certainly applies to reigning champions Flamengo. The Rio de Janeiro giants came from behind to win a splendid league victory away to Atletico Mineiro on Saturday night — all overshadowed by events in the dressing room after the match. Centre forward Pedro, the star of last year’s conquest and a member of Brazil‘s World Cup squad, has been losing space since the arrival in April of dynamic Argentine coach Jorge Sampaoli. On the bench for this game, Pedro allegedly refused to warm up, and after a post game row he was punched by assistant coach Pablo Fernandez.

The return to Rio was delayed while Pedro went to a local police station to make an official complaint, and with his teammates all supporting him, the club were thrown into crisis. Fernandez clearly had to be dismissed, but would this take Sampaoli down as well? The legal implications were onerous. Getting rid of Sampaoli would have a huge cost, and so it seems that he stays.

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But how strained are relations between him and the players? Fernandez was Sampaoli’s man. Flamengo have announced that they intend to fine Pedro for his refusal to warm up, and the player did not appear for training on Monday morning. Perhaps it is just as well that Flamengo are not in action until Thursday night.

But however bad the repercussions of Saturday night fever, Flamengo are still clear favourites to get past Olimpia of Paraguay, who they overcame 9-2 on aggregate when the sides met in this competition two years ago. Not only would Olimpia seem outgunned, they also have plenty of turmoil of their own, with a sequence of disappointing results leading to the sacking of coach Diego Aguirre and his replacement by former Paraguay right-back Francisco Arce.

Olimpia are one of four clubs to have made coaching changes since the Libertadores group phase came to a close at the end of June. Argentine boss Eduardo Coudet was living a strained relationship with the directors of Atletico Mineiro. He moved on, but replacing him with veteran former World Cup winner Luiz Felipe Scolari has, so far at least, only made matters worse. Atletico are without a win in nine games, and are now clear underdogs in a tie when a few weeks ago looked very even. In the only all-Brazilian clash of the round, Atletico Mineiro will face 2020 and ’21 tournament champions Palmeiras, who narrowly eliminated them in both of the last two seasons.

Meanwhile, Coudet returned to one of his former clubs, Internacional, who surprisingly sacked Mano Menezes, another former Brazil national team boss, to make way for him. Coudet himself says that this recent upheaval means that Argentina’s River Plate are favourites in their tie — one of two fascinating Brazil vs. Argentina encounters.

In the other one Fluminense, coached by incoming Brazil boss Fernando Diniz, take on Argentinos Juniors, with the first leg in Buenos Aires on Tuesday night getting the round underway. The free form, relatively unstructured football of Diniz is very interesting. But critics point to his lack of big titles, and a tendency for his teams to drop away after a bright start. Fluminense have certainly been on something of a slump of late, and may be tested by an Argentinos Juniors side which may lack outstanding quality but which is well marshalled by the highly promising Gabriel Milito.

The other club to have gone through a coaching change is Atletico Nacional of Colombia, where the fallout from losing a domestic final cost the job of Brazilian Paulo Autori, judged as too defensive for the attacking traditions of the team. His former assistant William Amaral has stepped up on a caretaker basis, and his future will probably be determined by the outcome of the two games against Racing of Argentina. Atletico Nacional have suffered an injury blow to the veteran Dorlan Pabon, joint top scorer of the group phase.

But Racing have fallen victim to the other source of turmoil — the mid-year transfer window. They lost out of contract star midfielder Mathias Rojas on a free transfer to Corinthians of Brazil — a move that highlights the imbalance of power in contemporary South American football. Rojas has left a team still in the knockout stages for a club eliminated in the group phase — but he can earn much more in his new surroundings.

Similarly, Nacional of Uruguay have had their preparations for the meeting with Boca Juniors thrown off course by the transfer of keeper Sergio Rochet to Internacional of Brazil. Boca, meanwhile, are living the benefits of the transfer window. They have just announced Uruguayan striker Edinson Cavani as their glamorous reinforcement. So unimpressive this year, morale is suddenly higher around Boca after a run of five consecutive wins (and seven wins and a draw in the last eight). The fixtures have also been kind to them, keeping them clear of Brazilian opponents until the semifinal at least. Might Boca have suddenly emerged as the biggest threat to the recent Brazilian dominance?

Ecuador’s Independeiente del Valle might have something to say about that. They are clear favourites against Deportivo Pereira of Colombia. Bolivar of Bolivia will hope that the extreme altitude of La Paz will help them build up a first leg lead against last year’s beaten finalists, Athletico Paranaense of Brazil.

And then, of course, there is River Plate, the newly crowned champions of Argentina, backed by the stadium with the biggest capacity in South America. But they are not immune from the turmoil of August. Can they hang on to centre forward Lucas Beltran, so impressive in the last few months, who is attracting interest from Fiorentina, among others? And Uruguayan attacking midfielder Nicolas de la Cruz is linked with a move away.

Turmoil, or its potential, is guaranteed all the way to the start of September, when the transfer window slams shut and four teams will be left to fight for the Libertadores title.

Source espn