Fuminense beats Libertad, assures debut in Libertadores semifinal

RIO DE JANEIRO, April 2 (Xinhua) -- Football club Fluminense beat Paraguay's Libertad 2-0 on Wednesday evening and classified for the semifinals of the 2008 Libertadores Cup in advance.

It will be the first time that Fluminense will play a Libertadores semifinal. In its two previous participation in the Cup, the club never made it through the preliminary phase. Additionally, the team has had the best performance in this edition of the tournament, with 10 points and a surplus of nine goals so far.

In the 29th minute of the game at Maracana Stadium, in Rio, forward Cicero headed the ball, which touched the knee of a Libertad defender before opening the score to Fluminense.

In the 50th minute, defender Thiago Silva got a pass from midfielder Thiago Neves and increased the hosts' lead.

Fluminense currently occupies the first position in the Group Eight of the Libertadores Cup.

LDU Quito has also scored 10 points in the group, but the Rio-headquartered club wins by three goals on the competition's table, leaving the Ecuadorian team in the second place.

As the two best-ranked squads of each group will move on to the semifinals, there is no way Argentina's Arsenal (three points) and Libertad (no point scored) will take over Fluminense or LDU, even if they both win their two remaining games in the preliminaries.