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River Plate beats Tigre 3-2 to take share of first place in Argentina's first division

By: The Associated Press

Posted: 02/24/2013 7:34 PM | Comments: 0 | Last Modified: 02/24/2013 7:48 PM

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina - Carlos Luna scored twice in the final five minutes to lift River Plate to a 3-2 victory over Tigre on Sunday and a share of the lead in Argentina's first division.

Luna headed in an equalizer in the 85th minute, and then added a close-in shot in the 87th. Juan Iturbe scored another in stoppage time to make it 3-1. Matias Perez Garcia converted a penalty for Tigre a minute later.

River Plate improved to nine points in three matches, the same as Lanus.

In other matches on Sunday, Independiente defeated Racing 2-0, Godoy Cruz won over Rafaela 2-1 and Belgrano beat Colon 2-1.

River's victory makes it a perfect start for new coach Ramon Diaz, who coached River in two stints more than a decade ago before returning to the club two months ago for the second half of Argentina's split season.

Independiente defeated Racing 2-0 on goals from Leonel Miranda in the 2nd minute and Jonathan Santana in second-half stoppage time.

Leandro Grimi and Mauro Obolo scored in Godoy Cruz's 2-1 win against Rafaela.

Belgrano picked up goals from Cesar Pereyra and Martin Zapata in a 2-1 victory against Colon.

On Saturday: Union 0, Quilmes 3; All Boys 2, Boca Juniors 0; Lanus 1, Velez Sarsfield 0.

On Friday: Argentinos Juniors 1, Arsenal 2; Estudiantes 1, San Lorenzo 1.

River Plate's great rival Boca Juniors have stumbled in the early season with only four points in three matches. New coach Carlos Bianchi, who stepped in about the same time as Diaz, is already under pressure to start producing.

"Anytime you lose you are worried," Bianchi said after the 2-0 loss on Saturday against All Boys. "We know the mistakes we have to correct and we're going to keep working to fix them."

Asked what was going wrong, Bianchi replied: I know, and I'll the players later."

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