Boca crush Union as fans make fun of River
Reuters - Tuesday 16 August 2011, 03:14
BUENOS AIRES - Striker Lucas Viatri scored
twice as Boca Juniors crushed promoted Union 4-0 while their
fans made fun of relegated arch-rivals River Plate at a packed
Bombonera on Monday.
Champions Velez Sarsfield also turned on the style to beat
Banfield 3-0 at home as they went joint top with Boca with four
points apiece after two matches of the Apertura championship.
Boca fans lit candles wrapped in the badge of River Plate,
who were relegated in June, and chanted "we won't be playing
with the chickens ever again" before the start of a match played
in almost constant drizzle.
Viatri, making the centre-forward role his own after the
retirement at the end of last season of Boca idol Martin
Palermo, put the home side ahead after 45 seconds when he scored
from Walter Erviti's cheeky backheel.
Boca scored three more goals in the final 10 minutes with
Viatri slotting home his second in the 80th from substitute
Nicolas Colazo's low left cross.
Playmaker Juan Roman Riquelme, who had a part in the first
two goals, tucked a fine third inside the far post in the 84th
and Colazo completed a night of misery for Union goalkeeper
Enrique Bologna and his defence in the 86th.
Velez, held 1-1 at Godoy Cruz in their opening match, went
ahead with a penalty by Santiago Silva in the 21st minute after
left back Emiliano Papa was brought down.
Five minutes after the interval, playmaker David Ramirez won
a corner when his shot from the right was well saved by Cristian
Lucchetti. Ramirez took the corner and found centre-back
Fernando Ortiz, who headed the second.
With seven minutes left and after Silva had hit the post,
his fellow striker Juan Manuel Martinez scored the third with a
shot that went in off the underside of the crossbar.
San Lorenzo bounced back from a 1-0 home defeat by Lanus to
upset Estudiantes 2-0 in La Plata scoring two goals in less than
two minutes just past the hour.
Busy midfielder Gabriel Mendez scooped the ball forward as
he fell in a tackle near the halfway line and striker Emanuel
Giglioti, a new signing from All Boys, shot low under Paraguay
goalkeeper Justo Villar to open the scoring on the hour.
A minute and a half later, Mendez ran onto a left cross into
the box, rounded Villar and clipped the ball into the empty net.
River make their Nacional B division bow against Chacarita
Juniors at the Monumental on Tuesday.