Sporting Cristal Advance to Group Stage After Beating Carabobo on Penalties

Peru’s Sporting Cristal qualified for the Copa Libertadores group stage this Wednesday after defeating Carabobo 3–2 in a penalty shootout, following a 2–1 win for the Venezuelan side in regular time, which leveled the 1–0 result achieved by the Celeste team in the first leg.

In a dramatic shootout from the spot, Cristal converted three of their five penalties through Yotún, González and Cristiano, while Carabobo only scored through Cova and Núñez.

Carabobo hit the post once and sent two other attempts wide, allowing Cristiano to score the final penalty that secured qualification for Cristal, despite missed penalties from Irven Ávila and Christofer Gonzáles, who failed with a Panenka attempt.