Buenos Aires, June 17: River Plate twice came from behind to beat Lanus 4-3 on Sunday and return to the top of the Argentine championship as the leadership changed hands for the third weekend running. River's match at Lanus produced five goals and a missed penalty in an amazing first half. An Ariel Garce own goal gave Lanus the lead, Fernando Cavenaghi equalised and Nelson Benitez put Lanus back in front all inside 22 minutes. Esteban Fuertes missed a penalty for River in the 26th minute but redeemed himself by equalising 11 minutes later and finding the target again early in the second half after Luis Gonzalez had put River 3-2 ahead before halftime. Hugo Morales pulled a goal back for Lanus in the 80th minute but was sent off five minutes later. River, who have 37 points from 16 games, went one ahead of Boca, who scored twice in the last ten minutes to draw with Arsenal.

Boca Juniors and Velez Sarsfield kept up the pressure as both came from two goals behind to earn 2-2 draws, the latter despite having two players sent off.

Arsenal, whose coach Jorge Burruchaga scored the winning goal for Argentina in the 1986 World Cup final against Germany, went ahead with two goals from Adrian Romero. Boca, who rested several players ahead of Thursday's Libertadores Cup semi-final second leg against Colombia's America, hit back through Carlos Tevez and Rolando Schiavi in the 83rd and 86th minutes after both came on as substitutes.

Line-ups: Lanus: Claudio Flores; Serafn Garca, Santiagfo Hoyos, Carlos Galvn, Lucas Alesandria, Nelson Bentez; Sebastin Salomn, Ezequiel Carboni, Carlos Moreno; Rodrigo Daz; Rodrigo Mannara. Coach: Osvaldo Sosa.

River: Franco Costanzo; Ariel Garc, Horacio Ameli, Martn Demichelis, Matas Lequi; Eduardo Coudet, Guillermo Pereyra, Luis Gonzlez; Andrs D'Alessandro; Esteban Fuertes and Fernando Cavenaghi. Coach: Manuel Pellegrini.

Boca: Wilfredo Caballero; Hugo Ibarra, Csar Gonzlez, Nicols Burdisso, Jos Mara Calvo; Javier Villarreal, Gustavo Pinto, Miguel Caneo; Ezequiel Gonzlez; Ral Estvez and Hctor Bracamonte. Coach: Carlos Bianchi.

Arsenal: Oscar Limia; Daro Espnola, Carlos Ruiz, Matas Manrique, Diego Cogliandro; Cristian Alvarez, Gastn Esmerado, Martn Andrizzi; Javier Morales; Adrin Romero and Silvio Gonzlez. Coach: Jorge Burruchaga.

Results of Argentine Clausura (closing) championship matches played over the weekend:

Union 0 Independiente 1 Racing Club 2 Velez Sarsfield 2 Nueva Chicago 0 Rosario Central 3 Olimpo 0 Colon 0 Banfield 1 Talleres 0 Newell's Old Boys 0 Estudiantes 0 Boca Juniors 2 Arsenal 2 San Lorenzo 4 Huracan 0 Lanus 3 River Plate 4 Gimnasia-La Plata 1 Chacarita Juniors 0

Standings P W L D F A Pts 1. River Plate 16 11 4 1 37 15 37 2. Boca Juniors 16 11 3 2 30 12 36 3. Velez Sarsfield 16 11 2 3 26 10 35 4. Rosario Central 16 8 6 2 29 16 30 5. Olimpo 16 7 4 5 20 15 25 6. Nueva Chicago 16 6 5 5 25 24 23 7. San Lorenzo 16 6 4 6 22 25 22 8. Gimnasia-La Plata 16 6 4 6 19 23 22 9. Racing Club 16 5 6 5 20 19 21 10. Lanus 16 6 3 7 23 26 21 11. Colon 16 4 8 4 14 13 20 12. Estudiantes 16 4 7 5 16 17 19 13. Newell's Old Boys 16 4 7 5 19 22 19 14. Arsenal 16 3 9 4 10 11 18 15. Independiente 16 4 6 6 12 20 18 16. Union 16 4 5 7 17 20 17 17. Talleres 16 4 4 8 17 22 16 18. Banfield 16 4 4 8 14 20 16 19. Chacarita Juniors 16 2 4 10 8 19 10 20. Huracan 16 1 3 12 11 40 6 The Clausura is the second of the two championships played in the Argentine season. The teams meet each other once in each tournament and there is no overall champion.

Bureau Report