International friendly: Chile 3 Paraguay 2

A Sebastian Pinto hat-trick fired Chile to a 3-2 win over Paraguay in a friendly on Wednesday.

The match marked the start of a 10-match ban handed to Arturo Vidal, Gonzalo Jara, Jean Beausejour, Jorge Valdivia and Carlos Carmona after they arrived to a team hotel late and drunk in November.

Missing so many influential players, the next year or so will prove to be a fascinating period for Claudio Borghi’s side.

They made a bright start to what will be a difficult spell with an early goal through Pinto after just 19 minutes.

Chile were then reduced to 10 men just after half-time when Michael Contreras was given a second yellow card for conceding a penalty.

Edgar Benitez converted that spot-kick and on 56 minutes, Paraguay took the lead through Julio Manzur’s strike.

Chile responded with a penalty of their own through Pinto six minutes later and with 16 minutes to go, Pinto got his third.

That was enough for Chile to hang on in La Serena as they won their third match of their past four.