There were five matches on Sunday in the Torneo Inicial, and with kickoffs staggered very strangely even by AFA standards it was impossible to watch all of them in their entirety. None ended in draws, and only one was an away win – the last game of the weekend, as River Plate scrambled a late winner away to Lanús. Newell’s Old Boys had started the afternoon off with a 2-0 win over Argentinos Juniors to cement their place atop the table, and there were also wins for Tigre and Belgrano over Colón (who finished with eight men) and Racing, respectively. In the remaining match, Emanuel Gigliotti struck twice – the first thanks to a sublime assist from Juan Román Riquelme – to give Boca Juniors a 2-0 win over Quilmes, meaning both River and Boca managed wins in their last games before next Sunday’s superclásico. All nine goals are right here.
Newell’s Old Boys 2-0 Argentinos Juniors
A clash of two title challengers, and Maxi Rodríguez stepped up early on to put Newell’s straight onto the front foot. His finely-taken goal 20 minutes in gave the hosts an advantage they wouldn’t let slip, even though Maxi himself later saw a penalty saved by Pablo Migliore. Midway through the second half, Pablo Pérez – who’d had a fair few attempts at scoring already – made it 2-0 thanks in part to some poor goalkeeping from Migliore. Newell’s, on 20 points, are top of the table.
Tigre 1-0 Colón
The first half of this match featured not a single shot on target. Good thing Newell’s v Argentinos was on at (almost) the same time. The second half, though, got a bit silly. First, Sergio Araujo was sent off for Tigre, and it looked like their poor form would continue. Then minutes later, Ramiro Leone put them into the lead. And in the final quarter of the game, Maximiliano Caire, Rubén Ramírez and Lucas Landa all saw red cards for Colón, who thus ended the game trying to throw everything forward for an equaliser in spite of having only eight men on the pitch.
Belgrano 3-0 Racing Club
Racing’s week went from bad to worse – with their boardroom at each others’ throats, the team lost yet again to equal their worst ever start to a season (two draws and seven defeats). César Pereyra scored twice, about half an hour into each half – the second a stunning overhead kick – and Carlos Bueno put the icing on the cake towards the end.
Boca Juniors 2-0 Quilmes
Two goals from Emanuel Gigliotti gave Boca a deserved home win over Quilmes. Juan Román Riquelme’s pass to set up the first was simply sensational. Enjoy.
Lanús 0-1 River Plate
This looked like it was heading towards a draw no-one could really have complained about – the only mystery was that it was going to end 0-0 rather than 3-3, so wasteful were both side’s forwards, but right at the end of one of their best performances under Ramón Díaz, River got the winner and claimed the only away win of the weekend thanks to Gabriel Mercado.
Hasta El Gol Siempre 