For Boca Juniors, Palermo scored his 222nd goal overall
By defeating championship challengers Independiente 3-2 on Sunday in Avellaneda, Boca Juniors maintained their unexpected comeback under interim coach Roberto Pompei. With their third victory under Pompei, the Buenos Aires giants put up a strong performance to finish the Argentine Clausura championship on a high note.
Ignacio Piatti’s goal gave Boca the lead in the 31st minute, but Luciano Monzon’s well-placed effort from the edge of the box gave them the lead back two minutes later.
Martin Palermo gave Boca the lead five minutes before halftime by utilizing instinct to head the ball back into the Independiente goal. It was his seventh goal versus Independiente and the 222nd of his career with Boca.
After a lengthy series of exchanges amongst the Boca team, forward Pablo Mouche added Boca’s third goal in the 88th minute with a stunning long-distance rocket. Mouche was given the go-ahead to celebrate his goal in front of the Independiente supporters, taking off his jersey.
Independiente scored a goal in stoppage time of the second half through the efforts of Leonel Nunez, but it was far too late for them to consider a comeback.
With their first away victory of the year, Boca moved up to position 14 in the 20-team league, an impressive accomplishment given that they had previously been among the league’s lower half of the standings.
After rallying from behind to defeat an already relegated Chacarita Juniors team 2-1, Estudiantes de La Plata is still in the first place.
Chacarita took the lead thanks to an Omar Zarif goal, but Estudiantes came back to win with two goals from Cristian Cellay and Mauro Boselli, giving them three points and moving them closer to the championship.
Argentinos Juniors, who are now in second place, also overcame a deficit to defeat San Lorenzo 2-1 on the road. Emiliano Alfaro, a striker from Uruguay, gave San Lorenzo the lead in the first half. Still, Ismael Sosa’s two goals in the second half kept the Argentinos’ hopes of winning the title alive.
Midway through the second half, Banfield, the defending champions, defeated Huracan 1-0 on a Maximiliano Laso convert. To make sure that their starting eleven will be in the greatest possible shape to face Internacional of Brazil in the Copa Libertadores round of 16 stages on Thursday, El Taladro selected a reserve side.
Other games saw River Plate defeat Velez Sarsfield by a score of 2-1, Newell’s Old Boys defeat Arsenal de Sarandi by a score of 2-0, Racing Club triumph against Tigre by a score of 2-1, and Rosario Central defeat Godoy Cruz by a score of 1-0.
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