Story ProgressBack to home
Boca Juniors beat River Plate
Boca Juniors received a much-needed boost to their faltering Argentine Clausura season when they beat archrivals River Plate 2-1.
- Indo-Asian News Service
- Updated: February 25, 2007 09:52 AM IST
Read Time:2 min
Buenos Aires:
Boca Juniors received a much-needed boost to their faltering Argentine Clausura season when they beat arch rivals River Plate 2-1 in the "Superclasico". Guillermo Barros Schelotto's 13th minute opener was cancelled out by River's Luis Gonzalez at the start of the second half, but Marcelo Delgado sealed a much needed win with an 81st minute free kick. Having lost their last three Argentine Clausura matches, Boca started the day nine points behind league leaders Velez Sarsfield in 12th place. Victory over River would go some way to salvaging something from a disappointing season, although Roberto Abbondanzieri would have to display early heroics to deny River's Ernesto Farias a goal, following a mazy run from Carlos Diogo. The home side opened the scoring in the 14th minute, with Guillermo Barros Schelotto firing in from close range after a header from Martin Palermo. Boca's lead came under threat before the half-time break, but man of the match Abbondanzieri worked wonders in goal and he denied Farias again from point blank range. River levelled the scores a minute after the re-start though, with Luis Gonzalez tapping in the simplest of finishes from a sublime Victor Zapata cross. That strike threatened to ruin Boca's whole season, but Los Xeneises fought back and reclaimed the lead in the 81st minute. Marcelo Delgado's free kick from 25-yards out caught River goalkeeper Franco Costanzo unaware and Boca's fans behind the goal surged forward as a much-needed victory over the old rivals came up for grabs. Abbondanzieri had to exhibit further heroics at the other end of the pitch to safeguard the win - his block from Jose Sand's header keeping the score at 2-1. But Boca held on to win by that same scoreline, although beating the archrivals will only go so far to papering over the cracks of a poor campaign. (AP)Topics mentioned in this article
Football
Get the Latest IPL 2024 Updates, check out IPL 2024 schedules and IPL points table at NDTV Sports.Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for more sports updates. You can also download the NDTV Cricket app for Android or iOS.