Boca Juniors’ Facundo Roncaglia (r) struggles for the ball with Racing’s Giovanni Moreno.
Apertura Tournament leaders Boca Juniors kept their eight-points advantage over second-placed Racing Club after their drew 0-0 at La Bombonera stadium. San Lorenzo lost against Unión a home and stayed in the promotion-relegation playoff zone.
Boca Juniors failed to seize on a two-man advantage as they were held to a 0-0 draw yesterday by Racing Club at La Bombonera stadium in a match for the 15th round of the Apertura Tournament.
Boca lead the competition with 33 points from 15 matches, with Racing in second place on 25. Four matches remain and Boca could clinch the Apertura title in the 17th round, when they face Banfield.
Racing were reduced to 10 men after Agustín Pellettieri was sent off for his second booking in the 50th minute. Diego Simeone’s side then went down to nine when Teófilo Gutiérrez was red carded in the 77th.
The match at La Bombonera started with a moment of silence for Dalma Salvadora Franco, the mother of Diego Maradona who died on Saturday in Buenos Aires of heart failure. She was 81, had been in poor health recently and had several stays in hospital.
The draw is unlikely to hurt Boca, who seem destined to win their 24th league title and their first since 2008.
In an open first half, both had scoring chances. Boca did most of the attacking and Racing replied on the counterattack.
The hosts did little after Pellettieri was sent off with Racing often looking more dangerous. The few chances that Boca did mount were snuffed out by Racing goalkeeper Sebastián Saja, who came up with four or five key saves during the match.
Earlier, San Lorenzo, who stayed in the promotion-relegation playoff zone, lost 1-0 against Unión at the Nuevo Gasómetro stadium.
Playmaker Paulo Rosales scored the winning goal for Frank Kudelka’s team in the 74th minute.
The hosts have only 14 points and could not escape from the danger zone, where they have an average of 1.252 and are ahead of San Martín of San Juan (1.006), Tigre (1.164) and Olimpo (1.169).
San Lorenzo lost their seventh match of the season and their coach Omar Asad resigned a few hours after the match.
Newly-promoted Unión, who accumulated five matches without defeats, have 24 points and share third place with Tigre, Colón and Vélez .
Also yesterday, Colón defeated Atlético Rafaela 1-0 with a goal netted by experienced striker Esteban Fuertes, who became the player with more appearances (285) in Colón.
On Saturday, Vélez Sársfield beat Belgrano 3-1 in Córdoba with goals by Iván Bella, Guillermo Franco and Ezequiel Rescaldani. Franco Vázquez discounted for the hosts.
Results & standings
RESULTS: Newell’s 0 Tigre 1; San Martin 0 All Boys 0; Argentinos Juniors 1 Godoy Cruz 0; Independiente 3 Olimpo 0; Belgrano 1 Vélez 3; San Lorenzo 0 Unión 1; Boca Juniors 0 Racing Club 0; Colón 1 Atlético Rafaela 0. Today: 7.10pm: Estudiante v Banfield. 9.15pm: Lanús v Arsenal.
NEXT ROUND, on Friday at 9.15pm: Tigre v Atlético de Rafaela. On Saturday at 5pm: All Boys v Lanús; Olimpo (Bahía Blanca) v San Martín (San Juan). At 7.10pm: Racing Club v Belgrano (Cba). At 9.10pm: Newell‘s (OB) v San Lorenzo. At 5pm: Arsenal v Estudiantes (La Plata), Vélez Sarsfield v Colón. At 7.10pm: Banfield v Argentinos Juniors, Godoy Cruz de Mendoza v Boca Juniors. On Monday at 9.15pm: Unión v Independiente.
RELEGATION AVERAGE: Racing 1.351; Newell‘s 1.351; All Boys 1.283; San Lorenzo 1.252;
Olimpo (BB) 1.169; Tigre 1.164; San Martín (SJ) 1.066.
LEADING GOALSCORERS: 10 — Rubén Ramírez (Godoy Cruz de Mendoza); 7 — Mauro Matos (All Boys); 6 — Darío Gandín (Atlético Rafaela), Martín Rolle (Olimpo); 5 — Alexis Castro (Atlético Rafaela); Esteban Fuertes (Colón de Santa Fe); Teófilo Gutiérrez (Racing Club); Paulo Rosales (Unión de Santa Fe).
buenosairesherald.com