>River suffer historic drop

River suffer historic drop


River Plate, the most successful club in Argentinian football, were relegated from the Clausura on Sunday for the first time in their history.

The Buenos Aires giants went into their promotion play-off against second-tier side Belgrano needing to overturn a 2-0 first-leg deficit, but fell short, drawing the return leg 1-1 at a sold-out Monumental.

It started promisingly for River when they went ahead through Mariano Pavano after just six minutes, but they failed to build on the lead and Guillermo Farre equalised 17 minutes into the second half. The home side had the chance to restore their advantage midway through the second half, but Pavone had his penalty superbly saved by visiting keeper Juan Olave.

River, who won the last of their 33 Argentinian titles in the the 2007/08 season, sunk into a play-off after a poor end to the Clausura campaign meant their three-season points average required them to play Belgrano in order to preserve their top-flight status they have enjoyed for the entirety of their 110-year existence.