Viatri return sparks Boca to win at Racing
Reuters - Monday 21 May 2012, 02:07
Lucas Viatri marked his return
from a long-term knee injury with a goal to send Boca Juniors on
their way to a 2-0 win at Racing Club that put them top of the
Argentine championship on Sunday.
Boca, with 29 points from 15 matches in the Clausura
standings, are a point ahead of Tigre and Newell's Old Boys
after their match on Friday ended in a 3-0 win for Tigre thanks
to Carlos Luna's hat-trick.
Viatri came on in the second half at Racing's Cilindro for
his first appearance in seven months following the injury to his
left knee and broke the deadlock in the 70th minute when he took
a pass with his back to goal, turned and fired home.
With eight minutes to go, fellow striker Nicolas Blandi hit
Boca's second when he scored from Pablo Mouche's pull back.
"It was a goal that helps me a lot spiritually, brings me
lots of memories, the hard times I went through," an emotional
Viatri told reporters.
"The one up there [God] shone a bit on me."
Promoted Belgrano, the team that consigned Boca's
arch-rivals River Plate to the Primera B Nacional (second
division) by beating them in a promotion-relegation play-off last
June, secured their place in the top flight for another season
with four matches to spare after a surprise 1-0 win at Velez
Sarsfield.
Belgrano are mid-table but they now have enough points in
the 2011/12 season comprising the Apertura and Clausura to
ensure their average is high enough to keep them out of
relegation danger even if they lose their remaining four
matches.
On Saturday, San Lorenzo lost 1-0 at Union worsening their
relegation prospects with the possibility of having to face a
play-off against River, joint second in the B Nacional. It would
be the first such clash between two of Argentina's 'Big Five.'
"It would cause heart attacks," River coach Matias Almeyda
was quoted as saying in the sports daily Ole.
Estudiantes won their second successive match since captain
Juan Sebastian Veron returned from injury, beating bottom team
Banfield 3-0.