Uruguayan Primera Division round-up: Nacional and River Plate both beaten

Nacional lose first game of group

In Group B of the Uruguay Primera Division, the two top sides, Nacional and River Plate, were both beaten. The defeat was Nacional’s first after four successive wins in the Intermediate phase.

Final del partido en el Gran Parque Central #Nacional 0 – 2 Danubio #NacionalSiempre #SomosNosotros pic.twitter.com/Oo2OMwx7uD

— Nacional (@Nacional) November 22, 2020

The match

Nacional, who beat River Plate in the previous gameweek to go top, lost 2-0 at home to Danubio and had two men sent off.

Danubio took the lead after a rapid counter attack that ended with Facundo Labandeira finishing off the move in the 44th minute.

Three minutes after half time, Danubio doubled their lead. Santiago Paiva burst down the right wing and his shot was deflected in by defender Paulo Vinicius.

In the 62nd minute, it got worse for Nacional as Mathias Laborda was given a straight red for scything down Paiva when he was running through on goal.

In stoppage time, Nacional went down to nine as Ayrton Cougo was sent off for a dangerous high foot challenge.

River Plate fail to take advantage

River Plate were unable to take advantage of Nacional losing and they therefore stay second in the table after a 2-1 defeat to Deportivo Maldonado.

The match

Federico Ramos opened the scoring for Maldonado in the 16th minute, finding the net at the back post with a sweetly struck shot.

River Plate came close to equalising at the beginning of the second half when Sebastian Priz hit the post, and they were punished for their misses.

A long-range shot was fumbled by goalkeeper Lucas Machado and Facundo Batista was on hand to finish and make it 2-0.

Facundo Batista marcó el segundo gol para nuestro equipo.
Deportivo Maldonado 2 @cariverplateuru 0 pic.twitter.com/MarebuQG0f

— Deportivo Maldonado SAD (@maldosad) November 21, 2020

Matias Alonso gave River Plate hope when he made it 2-1 with an in-swinging corner that deceived Danilo Lerda and flew straight into the goal.

Maldonado held on for the win and won their second straight match in the Group.

Group A

In Group A, Wanderers are top after beating Progreso 3-0, while their rivals Cerro Largo and Liverpool drew 1-1 against each other.

Hernan Rivero scored twice for Wanderers, while Bruno Veglio added the other. They lead the group with 10 points, with Cerro Largo a point behind.