Sadly, once again, the football has taken a back seat in the news following yet another incident of fans clashing with the police, in this case resulting in the death of a Lanus supporter. The incident occurred in the buildup to the Estudiantes game with Lanus as the Lanus supported arrived in La Plata and although the game started, the news filtered through that a member of the Lanus barra brava’s had been shot by police, and so it was suspended at half time with the home side 2-0 up. The two subsequent games were somewhat overshadowed by this but Newell’s Old Boys emphatically went within a game of the championship by thrashing, already relegated, Union 5-0. Two goals from the impressive, Maxi Rodriguez, one from the league’s top scorer, Nacho Scocco, another from Gabriel Heinze and one from Maxi Urruti gave Newell’s a comfortable win and a 3 point lead over River with just 2 games left. In the late kickoff, a win for Argentinos Juniors would have seen Independiente relegated but despite leading for a large part of this game, San Lorenzo came back to draw 1-1. Independiente breathe for at least one more week but a point for Argentinos or San Martin in the next 2 weeks sends them down. MATCH REPORTS, NEWS ON THE VIOLENCE AND HIGHLIGHTS HERE…..

ESTUDIANTES 2 – 0 LANUS (SUSPENDED)

The issue reportedly arose after the Lanus supporters travelling to the game had been delayed by the police as an argument grew some of the barras broke a drinks area and the police responded with force. During the fighting, Javier Gerez was shot in the chest from close range with a rubber bullet and another was hospitalised with head injuries. The first half had been delayed but play continued and Estudiantes led 2-0. Leandro Desabeto gave them the lead and just before half time Duvan Zapata headed in a second. However, news eventually spread of Gerez’s death and it was decided to call off the game. It’s another terrible incident in Argentinian football and the AFA have decided to stop all visiting support for future games but this wider issues needs to be addressed. All the AFA’s short term fixes do nothing to get to the root of the much bigger issue.

NEWELL’S OLD BOYS 5 – 0 UNION

SAN LORENZO 1 – 1 ARGENTINOS JUNIORS