Argentinos Juniors leapt to the top of the Argentine Clausura
standings after scoring two late goals to win 4-3 over
Independiente on Sunday and complete an incredible comeback.
The win moved Argentinos to 38 points with one round
remaining, one point ahead of Estudiantes, which had captain Juan
Sebastian Veron sent off in a scoreless draw with Rosario Central.
Argentinos travels to Huracan in its final match, while
Estudiantes is away to Colon de Santa Fe, currently in the bottom
half of the 20-team standings.
Nicolas Pavlovich opened the scoring for Argentinos against
Independiente, finishing at the back post after a pass across the
box from Jose Luis Calderon in the 27th minute.
Leonel Nunez equalized directly from a corner barely a minute
later and Independiente took the lead with a 49th-minute header
from Dario Gandin and another strike by Nunez in the 68th.
Argentinos looked beaten, but Pavlovich pulled a goal back by
heading in Ignacio Canuto's right-wing cross in the 74th minute and
Juan Sabia equalized with a strike into the roof of the net in the
final minute of regular time.
As both sides committed players forward in search of a
winner, Calderon passed to Matias Caruzzo whose deflected shot in
the third minute of stoppage time gave Argentinos all three points.
"We won because we put in a lot of fight, a lot of attitude.
There's still some way to go though and we've got to stay calm,
manage the anxiety," said Caruzzo. "We've got 90 tough minutes to
go against Huracan."
The result was bad news for Estudiantes, which could have
clinched the title Sunday if it had won and Argentinos hadn't
beaten Independiente.
Things started to go wrong for Estudiantes when former
Manchester United midfielder Veron was sent off for elbowing an
opposition player after half an hour.
Without the playmaker, Estudiantes struggled to break down
the Rosario defence and will have to hope Argentinos slips up in
its last match to have any chance of claiming the title.
"A player as experienced as Sebastian is difficult to
replace," Estudiantes coach Alejandro Sabella said. "The players
who were left on the pitch played a great match, but they just
couldn't do it. We thought we were going to keep the advantage, and
it's a hard knock because we are not at the top any more."
In other matches Sunday, Boca Juniors looks certain to end
its miserable season in the bottom half after losing 2-1 at home
against Huracan, while Banfield won 2-1 at Tigre and Atletico
Tucuman was held 1-1 by Arsenal de Sarandi.
Adrian Peralta gave Huracan the lead in Boca's Bombonera
stadium just before the break, but Gabriel Paletta equalized in the
50th minute. Boca had defender Juan Krupoviesa sent off in the 58th
minute and Gaston Machin made the extra man count with the winning
goal in the 79th.
A Ruben Ramirez penalty and a second-half goal from Roberto
Battion earned Banfield a 2-1 victory at Tigre. Brian Rodriguez got
a late consolation for Tigre.
Elsewhere, Luciano Leguizamon opened the scoring in the 20th
minute for Arsenal de Sarandi but Juan Pereyra equalized after half
time for already-relegated Atletico Tucuman.
In results from Saturday: Velez Sarsfield 4, Chacarita
Juniors 1; Newell's Old Boys 6, Gimnasia 0; River Plate 3, Racing
Club 0.
On Monday, Godoy Cruz takes on Colon and Lanus plays San
Lorenzo.
