RIO DE JANEIRO, April 25 (Xinhua) -- A Gustavo Scarpa brace fired Palmeiras to a 4-0 victory at Melgar and guaranteed Luiz Felipe Scolari's side a place in the Copa Libertadores knockout stage on Thursday.
Scarpa netted either side of halftime after Gustavo Gomez had given the visitors a 10th minute lead at the Monumental stadium in the southern Peruvian city of Arequipa.
Midfielder Moises Lima completed the rout by firing in from close range after a counter attack with 10 minutes remaining. The hosts were reduced to 10 men in stoppage time when Carlos Neyra was shown a second yellow card for a rash foul on Lucas Lima.
The result left the reigning Brazilian Serie A champions two points clear of Argentina's San Lorenzo at the top of Group F with just one match remaining before the knockout phase. Melgar remained third, six points further back.
In other matches on Thursday, Venezuela's Zamora won 2-1 at home to Cerro Porteno of Paraguay and Junior Barranquilla secured a 1-0 home victory over San Lorenzo in Colombia.
