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Substitute Gustavo Noguera of Paraguay's Libertad was on the pitch for less than half a minute before being sent off for a violent tackle in his team's 2-1 defeat by 3 de Febrero at the weekend.

Places in Chile's Clausura championship quarter-finals, which will be without title holders Universidad de Chile, were settled, while two more were decided in Colombia's semi-final group stage.

PARAGUAY

Joint leaders Nacional and Libertad both lost, allowing Olimpia to close the gap in third place to three points with their 2-1 win over Sportivo Luqueno in the Clausura championship.

Libertad midfielder Noguera came on as a substitute in the 55th minute but was on the pitch for less than 30 seconds before being sent off for a violent tackle on Isaias Olarriaga as his team lost 2-1 at home to 3 de Febrero.

Nacional went down 4-3 at home to Tacuary, for whom Ramon Caceres scored twice. Nacional's Marcos Melgarejo and Tacuary's Wilson Pittoni were sent off three minutes apart before an hour was up.

Apertura champions Cerro Porteno managed a rare win, only their third of the Clausura and first in five matches, coming from two goals down to beat 12 de Octubre 3-2. They are eighth, 13 points behind the leaders.

CHILE

Argentine striker Juan Jose Morales scored a hat-trick as Universidad Catolica celebrated finishing top of the round-robin stage of the Clausura championship, which ended at the weekend, with a 4-1 home win over Universidad de Concepcion.

The quarter-finals line-up is Everton v Catolica, Union Espanola v La Serena, Santiago Morning v Audax Italiano and Universidad de Concepcion v Colo Colo. The first legs are scheduled for November 21 and 22.

Apertura champions Universidad de Chile's Argentine coach Jose Basualdo, whose side failed to qualify, handed in his resignation in midweek after his team were also knocked out in the quarter-finals on the Copa Sudamericana, South America's Europa League equivalent.

The club said they would make a decision this week on former Argentina midfielder Basualdo, whose contract runs until mid-2010.

URUGUAY

Sebastian Coates, the 19-year-old central defender called up to the Uruguay squad for their World Cup playoff against Costa Rica next Saturday and the following Wednesday, scored twice in Nacional's 3-0 home win over Rampla Juniors.

Nacional remain top of the Apertura championship, level with Liverpool, who beat Cerro 2-0, on points and goal difference.

VENEZUELA

Champions Caracas FC, who went down to their first defeat of the Apertura championship, 1-0 away to Deportivo Tachira last week, recovered with a 2-1 home win over Carabobo at the Olimpico while Tachira lost 2-0 at CD Lara.

Caracas lead the standings by three points from Deportivo Italia and five from third-placed Tachira.

COLOMBIA

Deportes Tolima, who beat America 2-0, and Deportivo Pereira, 1-0 winners at Cucuta, joined already qualified Independiente Medellin and Atletico Huila in the Clausura championship semi-final group phase.

The four remaining places will be decided on Sunday. In the semi-final stage, the teams will be divided into two groups of four with those finishing top playing the final.

ECUADOR

Emelec got their first win after four matches in the third phase of the championship, 2-1 at home to Olmedo in Group Two.

However, they are five points behind group leaders Deportivo Cuenca, who beat Espoli 1-0 away, with two matches to go before the final.

Group One is tight with Quito rivals Deportivo and LDU neck and neck after they drew 0-0 with Manta FC and Macara respectively. Macara are three points behind.

PERU

Alianza Lima beat Sporting Cristal 1-0 and are four points clear in Group A after closest rivals Juan Aurich went down 3-1 at Jose Galvez.

Universitario, whose match with title holders San Martin was postponed, lead Group B eight points ahead of Sport Huancayo, who lost 3-0 away to Cienciano in the Andean city of Cuzco.

The final in December will be played by the group winners.

Reuters