16 August 2006 - Internacional Liberates The Copa

On 16 August 2006, Internacional won their first Copa Libertadores, beating São Paulo on aggregate over two legs.

The all-Brazilian event was Internacional's first appearance in the tournament final since 1980, when they lost to Uruguay's Nacional. São Paulo, meanwhile, were the defending champions, having won their third title that year.

Internacional won the first leg, played in São Paulo one week earlier, by the score of 1-2, with both of their goals provided by forward Rafael Sóbis. They met for the second leg at the Estádio Beira-Ro. Playing before a crowd of 55,000, São Paulo pressed for a goal and came close a couple of times, but failed to finish. The first break fell to Inter, when São Paulo keeper and captain Rogério Ceni failed to corral a corner kick. It dropped to Inter's captain, striker Fernandão (pictured), who drove it into the net with a sliding kick.

Shortly after the break, São Paulo defender Fabão scored from a 50th-minute free kick, but Inter midfielder Tinga restored the margin 16 minutes later when he headed the ball into an open net. That was his last contribution, however, as he received a second yellow for excessive celebration and left the match. But São Paulo failed to take advantage of the ejection until the 85th minute when they got a consolation goal from midfielder Lenílson. The match ended 2-2, giving Inter the aggregate win, 3-4.

Internacional were the ninth team from Brazil to win the tournament, the highest number of winning clubs from any country.