RIO DE JANEIRO, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Maximiliano Salas scored in the 96th minute as Argentina's River Plate clinched a 2-1 away win over Venezuelan side Carabobo in the Copa Sudamericana group stage on Thursday.
The hosts were reduced to 10 men on the stroke of halftime after Edson Castillo was shown a red card for an ugly challenge on Joaquin Freitas.
Maximiliano Meza broke the deadlock just before the hour when he met Juan Fernando Quintero's corner with a powerful close-range header.
But the hosts pressed for an equalizer and got their reward in the 77th minute through Matias Nunez, who converted a penalty after Juan Cruz Meza brought down Joshuan Berrios.
The visitors suffered a blow four minutes from time as Santiago Beltran received a straight red card for bringing down Berrios.
But Salas put his side ahead by combining with Facundo Gonzalez and sending a long-range shot into the bottom-right corner.
The result means River leads Group H with 10 points, four ahead of second-placed Carabobo.
In other Copa Sudamericana fixtures on Thursday, Bragantino won 6-0 at Blooming, Millonarios prevailed 4-2 at Boston River and Sao Paulo drew 0-0 at O'Higgins. ■
