River Plate opens season with win over Sarmiento

Feb 17, 2015 - 4:28 PM Buenos Aires, Argentina (SportsNetwork.com) - Teofilo Gutierrez netted a pair of second-half goals on Sunday as River Plate opened its Apertura campaign with a comfortable 4-1 thrashing of Sarmiento at the Estadio Eva Pern de Junn.

After falling just short of winning the league title last season, River Plate got this season off to a flying start as Carlos Sanchez opened the scoring after 24 minutes and Fernando Cavenaghi made it 2-0 just prior to the halftime interval.

Sarmiento, in the Argentine first divsion this season after the league expanded to a 30-team table, pulled one back through a goal from Hector Luis Cuevas in the 58th minute.

But the visitors pulled away in the second half as Gutierrez struck in the 74th and 83rd minutes to seal all three points with ease.

Also in Argentina on Sunday, Santiago Silva struck in the 54th minute to hand Lanus a 1-0 win over Quilmes, while Enrique Triverio scored in the second half to lift Union to a 1-0 win against Huracan.

Sebastian Palacios scored a second-half double to go with a third tally from Fernando Gago as Boca Juniors claimed a 3-1 result over Olimpo, while Argentinos Juniors handed Atletico Rafaela a 2-0 defeat.

On Saturday, Nicolas Bertochi's 22nd-minute strike held up as the winner as Defensa y Justicia claimed a 1-0 win over Gimnasia LP, while Mauro Matos and Hector Villalba scored to lift San Lorenzo to a 2-0 win against Colon.

Leandro Miguel Fernandez and Ramiro Lopez traded goals as Godoy Cruz and San Martin played to a 1-1 draw, while Lucas Albertengo netted a brace and Diego Martin Rodriguez scored the winner as Independiente claimed a 3-2 win over 10- man Newell's Old Boys

Juan Dinenno's last-gasp strike handed three points to nine-man Temperley with a 1-0 win over Banfield, while Crucero del Norte and Tigre played to a scoreless draw.

On Friday, Milton Joel Caraglio scored on either side of the intermission as Velez Sarsfield earned a 2-0 win over Aldosivi, while Franco Cervi's third- minute goal handed a 1-0 win to Rosario Central over defending champions Racing.

Monday's action saw Isreal Alejandro Damonte net the lone goal for Estudiantes in a 1-0 win at Arsenal while newly-promoted Nueva Chicago suffered a 3-1 defeat at Belgrano.