Newell’s lose again and with it, probably lose the title

A dramatic day in the Primera saw the door left wide open for San Lorenzo to claim the Torneo Inicial after Newell’s Old Boys’ spectacular slump continued and Arsenal too, were stunned in Sarandi. All Boys took full advantage of the woeful form of Newell’s and eased to a 3-1 victory in Floresta but such as the performance of Alfredo Berti’s side, only conceding 3 in the first half was fortunate. Arsenal hosted Belgrano in Sarandi, in a game they were expected to win but ended getting thumped 4-1 to leave their title hopes hanging by a thread. Velez Sarsfield stayed in the race with a 2-0 win in Santa Fe against Colon. Mauro Zarate opened the scoring and was then sent off but a late Lucas Pratto penalty wrapped up the points. Atletico Rafaela blew their chances after losing 3-1 against Tigre. The difficult away day was always likely to test their title credentials and they came up short. If San Lorenzo win today against Estudiantes and Lanus fail to beat Boca, El Ciclon will be crowned champions. WATCH THE GOALS….

COLON  0 – 2  VELEZ SARSFIELD
Velez managed to keep themselves in the hunt with a victory in Santa Fe but will now be hoping that San Lorenzo slip up later today.
Mauro Zarate gave Velez the lead with a close range finish before inexplicably losing his cool and kicking a defender 5 minutes later. Referee, Silvio Trucco had no option but to show the ex-Lazio man a straight red card.
Colon were unable to make the man advantage count and with 10 minutes remaining Óscar Carniello pulled down the influential, Lucas Pratto in the box. The defender was shown a second yellow card and Pratto got up to ensure the 3 points from the spot.
All eyes will now be on San Lorenzo as the two sides meet on the final day. If El Ciclon do not win today, that match promises to be a cracker.

TIGRE  3 – 1  ATLETICO RAFAELA
Rafaela outside hopes of claiming the Torneo Inicial ended yesterday in Victoria, as Tigre once again showed their strength at home and defeated the visitors 3-1.
Guillermo Cosaro headed Tigre into an early lead, capitalising on an absent Rafaela defence and although Rodrigo Depetris earned an equaliser, the fight back was short lived.
Cosaro repeated the act of avoiding all defenders and heading in from close range to reestablish the lead and with minutes remaining, Pablo Vitto fired in the third.

ARSENAL 1 – 4  BELGRANO
Arsenal missed the opportunity of going top and putting some pressure on San Lorenzo after a surprising defeat at home to Belgrano. Cesar Pereyra was brought down by goalkeeper, Cristian Campestrini after just 10 minutes and ‘Picante’ got up to convert the penalty himself for his ninth goal of the season.
5 minutes before the break, Esteban González belted in the second to give the visitors a commanding half time lead.
Arsenal made the perfect start after the break as Hugo Nervo tapped in from close range but the comeback did not materialise.
Guillermo Farré scored the third after Carlos Bueno’s effort had come back off the cross bar and to rub salt in the wound, Damián Pérez passed the ball into his own net for a fourth.

ALL BOYS  3 – 1  NEWELL’S OLD BOYS
A horrible first half display saw Newell’s punished in spectacular fashion. Maxi Núñez gave All Boys the lead just 9 minutes in with a delicate chip over Nahuel Guzman and a minute later, the lead was doubled through Gonzalo Espinoza’s superb long range effort which left Guzman with no chance.
Before half-time Hernán Grana fired in a third and it could have been much worse for Newell’s with the amount of one-way traffic.
Pablo Perez managed to earn a consolation goal mid-way through the second half but could not avoid Newell’s sliding to a seventh straight game without a win. A run which looks to have ended the hopes of back-t0-back titles.