Highlights: Clausura 2011 Argentina

Erik Lamela celebrates after finishing off a brilliant team goal
in River plates first win of the Clausura.

The first match of the second round featured a hugely significant clash between two of the relegation favourites. Olimpo de Bahía Blanca recorded only their second away win of the entire 2010-11 season with a resounding 1-3 win against Gimnasia y Esgrima de La Plata that allowed them to leapfrog their hosts out of the automatic relegation places. The minnows from the Atlantic coast of Buenos Aires Province will be delighted with maximum points from their opening two games of the Clausura.

Friday night's other game ended in a 1-1 draw between Banfield and Colón featuring an excellent goal from Achucarro for Banfield and a well worked goal that was finished off by veteran striker Esteban Fuertes for Colón's equaliser.

Argentinos Juniors and Independiente played out a tepid 0-0 draw which is no real surprise given that both teams see their participation in the Copa Libertadores, the game was a far cry from the epic 4-3 result at the back end of Clausura 2010.

Claudio Bieler scored his first goal for Newell's Old Boys against Lanús who equalised through Diego Valeri but Juan Cobelli hit a late winner to give the home team their first win of the campaign.

In the first big clásico of the tournament Racing Club and Boca Juniors continued their four game sequence of away wins against each other thanks to a single goal from Boca Juniors Pablo Mouche. Both teams were without their influential midfield playmakers, Riquelme was missing for Boca Juniors and Racing Club's Colombian midfield maestro is set to miss the rest of the tournament after this incident last week. Both midfields looked short on ideas but Boca had a little more attacting intent.

The surprise result of the weekend was All Boys 1-2 away win against Vélez Sársfield. Sebastián Grazzini scored both goals for the Buenos Aires minnows while Davíd Ramírez scored his second goal in a week for the hosts, All Boys finished the game with only nine players after having had two sent off in injury time.

On Sunday the reigning champions Estudiantes de La Plata joined Olimpo at the top of the table with a 0-1 away win against Quilmes, who sit at the bottom of the relegation table. It was a positive result for the La Plata club coming only days after the embarrasment of their 5-0 humping by Cruzeiro in the Copa Libertadores.

River Plate claimed all three points in their vitally important relegation clash with Huracán after a 2-0 win featuring a magnificent team goal finished off by Erik Lamela and a Pablo Ferrari header from a near perfect cross from Mariano Pavone.

Arsenal de Sarandí took an important 2-0 win against Tigre, the scorer of their first goal was Lisandro López (no not that Lisandro López) and their second was a long range effort from Jorge Ortiz late in the game. Arsenal are currently in fourth place in the race to qualify for the 2011 Copa Sudamericana, with six qualification places available plus a spot for the holders Independiente.

In the last game of round two Godoy Cruz continued with their schitzophrenic run of form in the league going down to a 0-2 home defeat against San Lorenzo after last week's spectacular demolition of Boca Juniors at the Bombonera. Ramón Diaz can be rightly proud of his San Lorenzo players but the fact remains that both of their goals came from catastrophic defensive errors from the home team.

Results

18-02-11
Gimnasia y Esgrima (LP)	1-3	Olimpo
Banfield	1-1	Colón
19-02-11
Argentinos Juniors	0-0	Independiente
Newell's Old Boys	2-1	Lanús
Racing Club	0-1	Boca Juniors
Vélez Sársfield	1-2	All Boys
20-02-11
Quilmes	0-1	Estudiantes
River Plate	2-0	Huracán
21-02-11
Arsenal de Sarandí	2-0	Tigre
Godoy Cruz	0-2	San Lorenzo

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Olimpo	2	2	0	0	5	2	+3	6
2	Estudiantes	2	2	0	0	3	1	+2	6
3	Colón	2	1	1	0	3	1	+2	4
4	San Lorenzo	2	1	1	0	3	1	+2	4
5	River Plate	2	1	1	0	2	0	+2	4
6	Godoy Cruz	2	1	0	1	4	3	+1	3
7	Lanús	2	1	0	1	4	3	+1	3
8	Arsenal	2	1	0	1	3	3	0	3
9	Newell's Old Boys	2	1	0	1	3	3	0	3
10	All Boys	2	1	0	1	2	2	0	3
11	Racing	2	1	0	1	1	1	0	3
12	Boca Juniors	2	1	0	1	2	4	−2	3
13	Independiente	2	0	2	0	2	2	0	2
14	Argentinos Juniors	2	0	2	0	1	1	0	2
15	Vélez Sársfield	2	0	1	1	3	4	−1	1
16	Banfield	2	0	1	1	2	3	−1	1
17	Gimnasia (La Plata)	2	0	1	1	2	4	−2	1
18	Huracán	2	0	1	1	1	3	−2	1
19	Tigre	2	0	1	1	0	2	−2	1
20	Quilmes	2	0	0	2	0	3	−3	0