1. The return of Carlos Tevez
There is no other place to begin than La Bombonera as Carlos Tevez finally jogged back out onto the turf wearing the colours of Boca Juniors after ten years. His official presentation in front of 40-odd thousand supporters during the week had been one thing but the visit of Quilmes and the opportunity for the number ten to put his boots on was something else.
The fairytale return would of course for Tevez to have scored a hat-trick in a dominant Boca performance but the reality was awfully similar to how Boca have been for much of the season. A tad disjointed and at times under pressure but in the end just doing enough to pick up all three points.
Tevez showed flashes of his brilliance and came close to a superb first-match goal only to be denied by the crossbar. Getting accustomed to this Boca side and his new teammates will take some time but sitting top of the table and with Carlos Tevez available, Rodolfo Arruabarrena’s side will take some beating.
Youngster Jonathan Calleri gave a decent go at upstaging Tevez by scoring the most audacious of goals – enjoy his rabona lob again….
2. River display strength to thrash Rafaela in between Libertadores semis
It has been quite a week for Marcelo Gallardo and River Plate. In between the first and second leg of the Copa Libertadores semi-final against Guaraní and historically clinching a place in the final, River’s reserve side hit five past Atlético Rafaela. With a tense Copa Libertadores semi-final just days ahead a more difficult evening might have been expected. However, veteran striker Fernando Cavenaghi rolled back the years to produce a virtuoso performance, scoring four as River trounced Atlético Rafaela to remain three points behind Boca Juniors at the top of the Primera.
17-year-old Abel Casquete was brought on in the second half and the Ecuadorian not only became the youngest foreigner to play for River in the professional era but made an immediate impact, squaring for Cavenaghi’s fourth.
As bad as Atlético Rafaela were (and they were really bad), River should be commended for such an emphatic victory when resting their entire starting eleven. The Libertadores is understandably the priority at present but the Primera title race is gearing up to be an exciting affair.
3. Pellegrino’s Independiente reign begins well
Mauricio Pellegrino continued his good start to life as Independiente manager with a 1-0 win to record back-to-back victories for the first time this year. Temperley made life difficult at times for El Rojo but 21-year-old Martín Benítez produced another lively performance in attack and it was his right-wing cross that Lucas Albertengo headed for the match winner. It was Albertengo’s ninth goal of the season and with his old Atlético Rafaela strike partner Diego Vera now on board, he should have a little more support going forward. None of Independiente’s new signings featured on Sunday night and the club looks in much better shape than it did before the break.
4. Racing, San Lorenzo and Belgrano win again as the title race continues to intrigue
For the first since the 2008 Clausura all five of the ‘Big Five’ picked up victories in the same round of fixtures and the result means that the title race remains as close as ever. Independiente are off the pace but the other four hold the top four positions with just four points separating them. They are joined, somewhat surprisingly, by Rosario Central and Belgrano and although Central continue to draw too many matches, Belgrano edged past Banfield to remain right in the mix.
San Lorenzo eased past Arsenal on Friday night to go top over night and Edgardo Bauza’s side may have been criticised during the the first half of the season but they do not appear to be going anyway.
There is still plenty of time to go and the expectation would still be that Central and Belgrano will drift away although they can test themselves this weekend with the visit of Boca.
Racing as champions, San Lorenzo as current Libertadores champions, River Plate as Libertadores finalists and Sudamericana champions and Boca Juniors powered by Carlos Tevez all have the credentials to lift the title. If it remains this tight we are in for a fascinating couple of months.
golazo argentino 