River stay top, Boca draw 3-3
Reuters - Monday 18 April 2011, 00:50
BUENOS AIRES - River Plate clung to a
one-point lead in the Argentine championship with a 0-0 draw at
Gimnasia on Sunday while arch-rivals Boca Juniors twice came
from behind in a thrilling 3-3 draw with Tigre.
None of the teams in the top five of the Clausura standings
before the weekend earned wins as second-placed Velez Sarsfield
drew 1-1 with Colon in Santa Fe, midfielder Victor Zapata
equalising in the fourth minute of added time.
River are top with 19 points and Velez, who play San Lorenzo
on Wednesday in a game suspended last month because of crowd
violence, have 18.
Three teams are tied for third with 17 points including
title holders Estudiantes, held 2-2 by Olimpo, and Godoy Cruz,
who ended Argentinos Juniors' unbeaten run with a 1-0 win on
Saturday.
Tigre striker Denis Stracqualursi hit a hat-trick at Boca's
Bombonera that put him top of the scorers' list with a tally of
eight but he left disappointed by the draw.
"Although it was nice to get the three goals, I'm left with
a sour taste, this was a winnable match and we didn't win,"
Stracqualursi told Futbol Para Todos.
The striker stunned the Boca fans by putting Tigre 2-0 up
inside 35 minutes as he stole ahead of his marker twice to head
past keeper Cristian Lucchetti.
But Boca, who have struggled for form all year, fought back
and two goals in the last three minutes of the first half
including Juan Roman Riquelme's equaliser put them level at
half-time.
A Stracqualursi penalty after young defender Enzo Ruiz
pulled midfielder Roman Martinez down put Tigre ahead again with
20 minutes to go.
But a fine shot from outside the box into the top corner 12
minutes from time by Argentina full back Clemente Rodriguez
salvaged a point, only their fifth in five home matches, for
Boca.