Hattrick hero Arias, Rodriguez scores again - Uruguay Roundup

Last week, Uruguay's Primera División experienced complete disaster for all but one of this season's top teams. Let us take a look at how they did one weekend later. 

In short form: They did a lot better. None of the top five lost their game during round 8. While you might have read about the spectacular game between Defensor Sporting and Nacional which had 6 goals and 4 penalties on display, the other games were a little more calm.

Fénix' Lucas Cavallini. (Photo: Tenfield)

Fénix opened the weekend up by playing visiting Villa Teresa. Right away, it only took the promoted club under two minutes to get their first huge chance, but they could not convert a penalty. Instead, it was Lucas Cavallini firing Fénix into the lead with a well taken goal (16'). The Canadian scored his third goal of the Clausura. Meanwhile, his team moves up to third place in the league table.

Away from home, Rentistas beat Racing Club 3-0 and imposed their aerial dominance in the process. Deivis Barone struck twice inside 5 minutes (14',18'). The Uruguayan centre-back was an unlikely hero for his team that added a third and final goal just two minutes later. Yoel Burgueño (20') scored his first of the season as well and shoots Rentistas into 7th in the table. They are unbeaten in three. 

Liverpool's Junior Arias. (Photo: Tenfield)

Liverpool have the famous name, but now they also finally have left the bottom of the table. A 3-0 win over Sud América is good enough for 13th. Man of the match with a hattrick: Junior Arias. He scored twice in the first half, via penalty (30') and from a lovely counter (32'), before adding the finishing touch to his performance with yet another penalty conversion after 84 minutes. Arias himself went up to 6 goals in 2016.

El Tanque Sisley lost their third straight, this time around to Montevideo Wanderers. After Rodrigo de Olivera struck twice (20',49'), El Tanque found a pretty quick answer to get back into this game. Mathías Acuña scored an absolutely fantastic goal (52'). After receiving the ball right onto his chest, the small midfielder spun around, lobbing it over two defenders and finished it volley into the top right corner. It was a goal that deserved more than zero points, but you cannot count out Wanderers at the moment, because they simply have THE MAN. Gastón Rodriguez scored his 10th goal of the season (77'), helped by reserve goalkeeper Ruben Silva who had vacated his line but could not get to the long ball first. 1-3 was the final score.

CA Cerro, on their strange piece of wannabe pitch, held league leaders Plaza Colonia to a goalless draw. Both teams will take the result, as it solidifies their positions, but Plaza came closest to winning the match. For the last quarter of an hour, they had a one-man advantage after Osvaldo Centurión was sent off for his second yellow card. As you realised by now, they could not use it.

River Plate are eliminated from the Copa Libertadores, but only managed a draw yet again in the league. Against fellow midfield rival Juventud, River was held to a 0-0. The game in the Saroldi stadium was rather tough on the eyes, so let us quickly move on.

Peñarol's Cristian Palacios. (Photo: Tenfield)

For the first time, Peñarol played a league game in their brandnew stadium. They just sneaked out a bit of a lucky 2-1 victory on the night against bottom club Danubio. Nicolás Albarracín opened the scoring in the 20th minute after a lot of confusion inside Danubio's area. It was doubled nine minutes later when a long ball eliminated the whole visiting team and the hesitating goalkeeper Facundo Silva. Cristian Palacios ended up putting the ball in the back of the net. When Danubio's José Rodríguez was sent off for his second yellow card (67'), it seemed like game over, but not so fast. Miguel Murillo commited a foul inside the area and gave away a penalty while getting himself sent off as well. Captain Carlos Grossmüller took the opportunity by the horns and cut into the lead (79'). While the visitors could have equalized in the end, it was a typical bottom feeder loss. Peñarol disappoint from a footballing standpoint once more, but still collect all three points.

Here are all the goals in video form, as well as the league table after round 8.

Standings provided by Sofascore LiveScore