RIO DE JANEIRO, April 24 (Xinhua) -- Defending champions River Plate secured a berth in the Copa Libertadores knockout stage with a 2-0 victory at Palestino on Wednesday.
Javier Pinola opened the scoring just after the half-hour mark for the Argentinian side, before Ignacio Fernandez and Rafael Santos netted second-half goals at Estadio Monumental in Chile's capital Santiago.
Both sides finished the match with 10 players after late red cards were shown to Santos and Palestino's Julian Fernandez.
The result leaves River Plate second in Group A with nine points from five matches, four points behind Brazil's Internacional, who won 1-0 at Alianza Lima on Wednesday.
Palestino are third, five points behind River with just one group match remaining.
In other Copa Libertadores fixtures on Wednesday, Boca Juniors drew 2-2 away to Colombia's Deportes Tolima, CD San Jose beat Uruguay's Penarol 3-1 in Bolivia, LDU Quito overcame Brazilian giants Flamengo 2-1 in Ecuador, Chile's Universidad Catolica drew 1-1 at Rosario Central in Argentina and Bolivian side Jorge Wilstermann won 3-2 at home to Brazil's Atletico Paranaense.
