Champions Boca survive storm to see off Olimpo
Reuters - Saturday 11 February 2012, 03:14
Boca Juniors
weathered a whirlwind start from Olimpo to open the defence of
their Argentine league title with a 2-0 home win and extended
their unbeaten run to 30 matches on Friday.
San Lorenzo, another of Argentina's so-called Big Five
teams, had their hopes of a winning start to the Clausura
championship to edge away from relegation danger shattered in a
4-1 defeat at Lanus.
Olimpo attacked from kick-off and goalkeeper Agustin Orion
had to go down sharply at his left-hand post to push away a shot
from Martin Rolle and prevent Boca from going behind inside half-a-minute.
Urged on by a packed Bombonera bedecked in their blue and
yellow colours, Boca found their feet after the opening
10-minute onslaught during which they were mostly forced into
their own half and captain Juan Roman Riquelme came in for close
attention from Olimpo's defenders.
Riquelme was involved, however, when Boca broke the deadlock
four minutes from half-time. His chipped centre from the left
edge of the box was headed down into the middle by winger Pablo
Mouche, who looked marginally offside, for striker Dario
Cvitanich to blast home.
Boca, who won the Apertura title by a 12-point margin from
their closest challengers in the first half of the season, went
further ahead when Riquelme delivered a well-weighted pass to
Mouche, who found the net at the second attempt in the 66th
minute.
"It's important to start with a win. We'd gone three or four
tournaments without being able to start with a win," Riquelme
told broadcaster TV Publica. Boca were held 0-0 at Olimpo in
their opening match of the Apertura in August.
STUNNED SAINTS
Having had a very poor Apertura, San Lorenzo are in the
bottom-four danger zone of the relegation standings, which are
based on points averages over three seasons.
They appeared to have ironed out some problems during the
off-season and had made a good signing in former Uruguay striker
Carlos Bueno.
Bueno scored just before the hour on Friday but by then the
Saints were four goals down, having conceded three in the
opening half hour. Former River Plate striker Mariano Pavone
scored twice, including Lanus's fourth early in the second half.
Lanus had gone into the match determined to erase the bad
memory of their round of 32 elimination in the Copa Argentina
after losing a penalty shootout to Barracas Central, who are
near the bottom of the third-tier Primera B Metropolitana
division.
"We had our revenge," Pavone told reporters.
San Lorenzo's frustration boiled over in the final quarter-of-an-hour when two defenders, Nicolas Bianchi Arce and Fernando
Meza, were sent off.