River Plate reach semi-finals

Uruguayan giants River Plate secured their place in the Copa Sudamericana semi-finals by beating Argentinian outfit San Lorenzo on penalties.

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River Plate celebrate their shootout success

River Plate won the second leg 1-0 at the Estadio Pedro Bidegain in Buenos Aires to level the tie at 1-1, before sealing a 7-6 shoot-out triumph.

San Lorenzo adopted a defensive policy, looking to protect their 1-0 lead from the first leg, but fell behind 46 seconds into the second half when Richard Porta profited from Kily Gonzalez's mistake and beat Pablo Migliore with a left-footed shot.

In the shoot-out, the first four misses did not prove decisive but the fifth did, as Pablo Pintos saw his effort saved by River goalkeeper Luciano Dos Santos.

River will face the winners of the tie between Argentinian champions Velez Sarsfield and Ecuador's Liga Deportiva Universitaria, who drew 1-1 in Buenos Aires two weeks ago and play in Quito.

San Lorenzo coach Diego Simeone said: "We are very disappointed. Now, we must step up quickly, because when they see you lying on the floor, they keep hitting you.''

In Rio de Janeiro, Paraguayan side Cerro Porteno claimed a solid 3-1 win over Brazil's Botafogo to join River in the semi-finals with a 5-2 aggregate win.

Botafogo had a couple of chances to open the scoring and level the tie in the closing minutes of the first half.

Cerro defender Diego Herner stopped a Renato attempt when the ball was about to cross the goal-line in the 41st minute, two minutes before Renato went close with a header.

The Paraguayans stole in front 11 minutes after the interval, when Jorge Nunez's header beat Jefferson.

Andre Lima equalised in the 73rd minute but Alessandro left Botafogo down to 10 men two minutes later when he was sent off for a heavy challenge on Luis Cardozo.

Botafogo needed to score to take the tie to penalties, but Julio Irrazabal increased Cerro's aggregate lead to 4-2 with three minutes remaining.

In stoppage-time, Luis Caceres finished another counter-attack to consolidate the victory for Cerro.

They will face the winners of the quarter-final between Universidad de Chile and Fluminense, who drew 2-2 in Rio de Janeiro and resume battle tomorrow.

Cerro coach Pedro Troglio said: "We are one of the best four teams in the championship and we have to enjoy it. We played a great second half. We needed to win and progress with authority. We are heading in a good direction.''