River Leave It Late To Beat Racing River Plate may have played poorly, but somehow escaped from Salta with a late 2-0 victory over Racing Club at the

The Argentine giants were outplayed for large periods of the match, and seemed incapable of beating the Avellaneda club, but ended up winning the match 2-0 with late strikes from Paulo Ferrari and Marco Ruben.

Racing Club, who have a relatively new look side this season under Miguel Mico, played a good match, but were unable to make the most of their opportunities, and must be frustrated after losing the match by two goals.

Things started going wrong for Racing in the 36th minute of the second half when Gabriel Mercado was sent off by Pablo Lunati for handling the ball in the area.

Paulo Ferrari fired the ball home from the penalty spot to put River ahead, and only minutes later Marco Ruben, who has attracted interest from a number of European clubs, sealed the victory with a close range finish.

River made the most of the few goal scoring opportunities they created in a match which Racing proved superior, although not when it meant scoring goals.

Team Line-ups

River Plate (2): Juan Marcelo Ojeda, Danilo Gerlo, Emmanuel Martinez, Maximiliano Oliva, Paulo Ferrari, Nicolas Domingo, Matias Abelairas, Damian Lizio, Sebastian Sciorilli, Diego Buonanotte and Radamel Falcao Garcia. Coach: Diego Simeone.

Racing Club (0): Hilario Navarro, Franco Sosa, Marcos Caceres, Gabriel Mercado, Gonzalo Garcia, Gabriel Mendez, Martin Romagnoli, Claudio Yacob, Claudio Fileppi, Erwin Avalos and Reinaldo Navia. Coach: Miguel Mico.

Goals: in the second half: 37' Paulo Ferrari from the penalty spot, and 42' Marco Ruben.

Red Cards: in the second half, 36' Gabriel Mercado and 45' Claudio Yacob.