Peñarol will open its Copa Libertadores campaign in Bogotá on the road against Santa Fe, beginning Group F with a test that mixes altitude, travel and expectation. The Uruguayan club last lifted the trophy in 1987, and its return to the tournament comes away from home against a rival that won the Superliga in January 2026.
Diego Aguirre said the task in Colombia is demanding because of the altitude, noting that playing there is never easy. He said Peñarol prepared to make a good match and bring something back from Colombia, adding that the team arrived on a direct flight from Montevideo and felt comfortable in Bogotá. The match gives Peñarol an early chance to show whether it can carry continental form into a group that opens with one of the competition’s hardest road trips.
The setting matters as much as the opponent. Bogotá sits at almost 2,600 meters above sea level, and Peñarol trained there using the facilities of the Federación Colombiana de Fútbol before the game. Santa Fe comes into the contest after an irregular Liga BetPlay campaign, but Pablo Repetto said the squad is stronger than it has been and that Fagúndez, Lovera and Jader add more hope for a positive result.
Repetto also said Peñarol is very different in the local championship from the version it will present in Libertadores, a distinction that could define how Group F begins. He said the club had not been in this stage of the tournament for five years, calling the competition the most important in South America and saying the team’s return has created strong expectation among supporters. For Peñarol, the first stop is not only a debut. It is the opening step in a campaign built to measure itself against the continent again.
