Guerrero scores on return from doping ban
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E-mail Xinhua, April 7, 2019
PORTO ALEGRE, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Peru captain Paolo Guerrero made a scoring return as Internacional beat Caxias 2-0 on Saturday to advance to Brazil's Gaucho championship final.
Guerrero, who had not played since last year's World Cup because of a doping ban, struck with a first-half header before Guilherme Parede added another goal after the break in the semifinal at the Beira-Rio Stadium.
The result handed Internacional a berth in the Gaucho final against traditional rivals Gremio.
Peru's all-time leading scorer was banned for a year by FIFA after testing positive for cocaine metabolite benzoylecgonine after a World Cup qualifier in October 2017.
The suspension was halved after an appeal but the Court of Arbitration for Sport extended it to 14 months at the behest of the World Anti-Doping Agency, which successfully argued the sentence had been too lenient.
Guerrero, who says he unwittingly consumed the substance in a herbal tea, was cleared to play at last year's World Cup in Russia on compassionate grounds.
Saturday's match marked the 35-year-old striker's first appearance for Internacional, whom he joined last August from Brazilian Serie A rivals Flamengo. Enditem
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