Pre-tournament favourites Argentina booked their place in the final of the 2015 edition of the Copa America with a resounding victory over holders Paraguay.
Manchester United's Marcos Rojo gave Argentina an early lead from Lionel Messi's terrific free kick, before Javier Pastore drilled in a low effort from the edge of the box.
Substitute Lucas Barrios gave Paraguay hope as he capitalised on a defensive mistake to power home on the stroke of half-time, but two goals from Angel di Maria just after the break all but confirmed Argentina's progression.
Sergio Aguero and his replacement Gonzalo Higuain added another quick-fire double with ten minutes to play, as Argentina made a statement of intent after struggling to find the net in the rest of the tournament.
The dramatic result means Argentina will face host nation Chile in Saturday night's final, with Paraguay fighting it out for third place with defeated Peru.
Few changes in the starting elevens
Both managers named almost unchanged line-ups from those which won their quarter-final clashes against Colombia and Brazil respectively.
Argentina centre-half Ezequiel Garay was forced out of the matchday squad entirely with a stomach bug, and was replaced by Manchester City man Martin Demichelis.
Meanwhile, Richard Ortiz replaced Eduardo Aranda in the Paraguay midfield, with Argentinian head coach Ramon Diaz sticking to his guns with a similar side to that which shocked Brazil.
Early chances at each end
Both sides started in promising fashion but it was Argentina who shot out of the traps, probing with a dangerous counter-attack with just two minutes played. After a long diagonal ball towards the right corner of the box, however, Manchester City teammates Aguero and Pablo Zabaleta failed to combine effectively with the latter being flagged offside from the former's flick-on.
The first real chance of the game came from Paraguay, however, with Nelson Haedo Valdez nodding a clever ball over the top back to strike partner Roque Santa Cruz at the edge of the area, but the former Premier League man scuffed his first-time shot from a central position, the ball dribbling wide to the left.
Argentina's first shot on target came from a similar area at the other end of the pitch, with Zabaleta getting to the byline before cutting the ball back to Pastore in space at the edge of the area. However, he too failed to make convincing contact with the ball as he swivelled to half-volley a bouncing effort straight at the goalkeeper.
Rojo gives Argentina the lead
With just under a quarter of a minute played, the favourites took a reasonably well-deserved lead. After a flurry of three bookings in two minutes, Messi delivered a superb curling free-kick towards the edge of the six-yard box from deep on the left.
Just shown a yellow card, Rojo managed to bring the ball down and react first to stab home an instinctive finish into the bottom-left from close range; if Paraguay were to reach a second successive final, they would have to come from behind yet again.
Five minutes later, it should have been two. As Paraguay flooded bodies forward for a throw-in, Argentina broke forward with Messi leading the charge. He threaded a ball through for Pastore who had made a run down the left and, though he shaped to shoot for the far post, he hesitated and ended up firing a weak effort straight at Justo Villar in the Paraguay goal.
Paraguay were perhaps lucky to escape as they played for ten men for a significant length of time as winger Derlis Gonzalez received treatment for a knock at the side of the pitch after receiving a kick from di Maria.
Moments after his return to the fray, Gonzalez played flying full-back Bruno Valdez, whoed down the right and was knocked off the ball, fairly in the eyes of the referee. However, no sooner did play resume than Gonzalez went down again, to be replaced by Argentina-born Bobadilla.
Pastore arrows in a second
Paraguay seemed almost stunned by the injury, and were punished for a lack of concentration as Argentina doubled their advantage from a stunning counter-attack.
Three players combined in a dynamic passing triangle advancing up the pitch before Pastore was found in space again, this time by Messi, at the edge of the area. With his second chance of the game he made no mistake, finishing superbly with a low right-footed shot into the bottom-left corner. Like Rojo before him, it was only his second international goal.
The 2011 winners' night was crumbling and just seconds later, things took a turn even further for the worse as Santa Cruz went down off the ball and was forced from the field to be replaced by Raul Bobadilla.
Argentina dominated possession and chances
Di Maria was flagged marginally offside and Pastore was beaten to a ball over the top by the goalkeeper as Argentina continued to come forward, with their opponents offering little hope of a comeback. They were seemingly beaten to every ball into the attacking half of the pitch and were repeatedly left looking vulnerable on the break, saved on more than one occasion by their central defensive pair.
Messi had created both goals but still looked slightly off the pace when attempting to put the ball in the net himself. With just a solitary normal-time goal in the tournament before the semi-final stage, twice he fired free-kicks over the bar from inviting positions where he might have been expected to do better.
Paraguay began to threaten a little more as the half drew to a close, with Ortiz seeing a long-range effort deflected behind for a corner and Nelson Valdez having a promising-looking shot blocked by Demichelis at the edge of the area.
Barrios gives Paraguay hope
And, with three minutes of the first half to play, they pulled themselves back into the game. A lazy ball forward from the back was seized upon by Bruno Valdez and nodded forwards to substitute Barrios, who drove forward unchallenged and powered a fairly central shot past the helpless glove of Sergio Romero, who could only touch the ball into the bottom-left corner.
The goal had clearly galvanised the side who had seemed down and out just moments before, and Bobadilla could have levelled things up as he cut back cleverly past Nicolas Otamendi but blazed a shot high over the near post.
A sucker-punch double for Argentina after the break
Argentina looked to go for the jugular in the opening minute of the second 45, with Messi playing a delightful pass over the defence which was a matter of inches from the boot of the advancing di Maria.
Paraguay were committing players forward already and were made to pay for their cavalier approach as di Maria restored the two-goal advantage with two minutes of the second half played.
The ball was carried some distance through the centre of the Paraguay half unchallenged and played down the left from the outside of the boot of Pastore. Di Maria ran onto the pass and skipped past one challenge, before delivering an emphatic finish across the goalkeeper into the far bottom corner.
Argentina almost played themselves into trouble at the back again as Romero and Demichelic exchanged passes with three Paraguay players closing down, Tata Martino's men clearly looking to retain possession and attempt to kill the game off.
Soon after Victor Caceres had headed straight at Romero at one end, Argentina added a ruthless fourth at the other. Messi played in Pastore and though his shot was saved by the completely abandoned goalkeeper, a number of attackers had lined up for the rebound and it was di Maria who claimed the jackpot, knocking the ball in past a desparing defender stretching across the line.
Di Maria's second knocked some of the punch out of the game and, though Paraguay still attempted to come forwards, a fifth for Argentina seemed the more likely as they repelled any pressure and sent their star-studded strikeforceing towards goal as soon as the ball was recovered. As the game passed the hour mark, however, the World Cup finalists seemed increasingly content to sit on their commanding lead.
Messi and Pastore combined inside the area but the former was still denied his goal by the keeper at point-blank range with 20 minutes to play. Soon after, Javier Mascherano was removed from the field after a conversation between Martino and Messi, presumably with one eye on the final - a booking for the Barcelona bulldog would have seen him suspended for Argentina's next game in the competition.
Blue and white icing on the cake
Argentina's fifth came somewhat out of the blue. Messi spread the ball out to di Maria on the left, and he delivered a sumptuous ball towards the edge of the six-yard box for Manchester rival Aguero. The City man jinked around his marker and flicked a header into the top-right in emphatic fashion.
A sixth was not far around the corner. Higuain, moments after coming on for Aguero, was the man to profit from a lucky break as Messi stretched to reach the ball, the Napoli man running onto the loose ball and thundering a first-time shot into the top-left corner.
There was to be no consolation for a clearly dejected Paraguay side, praying for the whistle to come from the moment Higuain rippled the net for the final time.
For a side which had punched above its weight impressively throughout the tournament, it was an ugly way to go out. However, their Argentine opponents seem to have cranked into top gear at exactly the right time after an unconvincing tournament thus far.