River Plate get three big points, and Estudiantes return to winning ways

In Sunday’s big relegation clash, River Plate huffed and puffed in the first half, and eventually blew down Huracán’s unconvincingly-constructed house in the second with a brilliant goal from Erik Lamela, and a counter-attack-finishing header from full back Pablo Ferrari. Mariano Pavone set up both. Estudiantes, following the 5-0 mauling they got from Cruzeiro in the Copa Libertadores in midweek, got back to winning ways away to Quilmes, with a 1-0 win thanks to a Gabriel Mercado strike. All three of the goals are right here.

Quilmes Atlético Club 0 – 1 Club Estudiantes de La Plata

Gabriel Mercado scored the only goal of this match on the stroke of half time, after English Dan and Seba García had been complaining he’d rarely ever scored at Racing in this week’s Hand Of Pod. Quilmes looked rushed on the ball and never proved very tough opponents, but a win was just what Estudiantes needed to pick themselves up from their midweek disappointment in the Copa.

River Plate 2 – 0 Huracán

During the first half Huracán looked familiarly awful, and River pressured and pressured, but didn’t have it in them to break the visitors down, in spite of Manuel Lanzini hitting the host at one point from a Mariano Pavone knock-down. Pavone missed a good chance in each half, but in the second he was key, along with Erik Lamela, and set up both goals. The first was a brilliant piece of interplay with Lamela, who scored his third first-team goal for River, and his first at the Monumental. For the second, Lamela was at the centre of a River counter-attack before spreading it for Pavone to cross from the right, allowing Pablo Ferrari – who’d apparently forgotten that he was meant to be crossing to Pavone – to head in the second.

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Photo taken from ole.clarin.com