Independiente lost their 100% record in midweek to Boca, and on Saturday night it got worse as they travelled to La Plata and lost 1-0 to Gimnasia. Roberto Salvatierra scored the only goal of the game four minutes after half-time – the first time this season that Germán Denis has failed to score. There was some good news for Los Diablos Rojos, though – Daniel Montenegro returned, and played the whole game.
Abroad, Hernán Crespo was once again an unused substitute as Inter beat Empoli with two goals from shy and modest Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic. ‘No-one ever died from being a substitute,’ claimed Crespo, but after recent comments from Alfio Basile about the national side’s lack of a penalty box poacher, it wasn’t nice seeing him fail to make an appearance again. Ezequiel Lavezzi scored again for Napoli as they bounced back from an opening weekend defeat by thrashing Udinese 5-0 away from home.
In England, Carlos Tevez had a quiet game as Manchester United eventually stumbled to a 1-0 win over Sunderland, seeing a powerful shot saved in the first half but fading in the second. Javier Mascherano was key to the first of Liverpool’s six goals against Derby County at Anfield, charging down a poor clearance to slip the ball to Fernando Torres. And Julio Arca couldn’t repeat his man-of-the-match goalscoring exploits of last week, but was still one of Middlesbrough’s best players in their 2-0 home win over Birmingham.
To the east of the UEFA region (‘Europe’ isn’t strictly accurate), Federico Higuaín made his debut for Besiktas in Turkey, coming off the bench for Matías Delgado in the 74th minute of a 0-0 draw which kept his side top of the league on ten points. Maxi López scored his first goal for FC Moscow (and if you’re wondering why I didn’t report that transfer the answer is I’ve only just found out it had happened), whilst Mauro Poy scored the only goal of the game for Greek side Xanthi against PAOK.
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