Highlights: Chile beat 10-man Peru in thriller semi-final

You expect a game between two South American nations to be pretty feisty, but when the teams are fighting for a place in the Copa America final, things are escalated a notch. As Chile came out victorious against Peru who were reduced to 10 men as early as the 20th minute.

Eduardo Vargas scored twice on the night for the tournament hosts to make them the first finalists of this year’s competition. The first one a scrappy goal just before half-time with possibly a hint of offside and the second in the 64th minute was a stunner just minutes after Peru had equalised through an unfortunate own goal by Gary Medel.

Perhaps the result of the match would have been different if the Peruvian defender Carlos Zambrano hadn’t been sent off for recklessly planting his boot in the lower back of Chile’s Aranguiz. He received a yellow card early in the game but he was sent off with a straight red card in the 20th minute.

Chile’s Arturo Vidal too was lucky to get away with shoving his hand in the face of the aforementioned Zambrano in a scuffle at the touchline earlier. The referee let both players go with a warning in that instance.

Chile will face the winner of Argentina vs Paraguay in the final for the big prize while the losers of that game will face Peru for the third place playoff.