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A round-up of domestic action from around the globe, with River Plate's woes continuing in Argentina.

ARGENTINA

River Plate's troubles continued as they squandered a two-goal lead against 10-man Colon and were held 2-2 in their first game of the Clausura championship.

River, who finished bottom of the Apertura championship last year and were playing their first competitive game under new coach Nestor Gorosito, appeared to be heading for a handsome win as they went 2-0 ahead after the break.

Gustavo Cabral headed the first in the 57th minute and Colombian Radamel Garcia Falcao turned in Mauro Rosales's pass to double their lead 12 minutes later.

But Colon pulled one back out of the blue when Alejandro Capurro scored with a swerving 30-metre shot in the 77th minute before substitute Pablo Calandria equalised with another long-range shot in the second minute of injury-time.

Colon played the entire second half with 10 men after Pablo Aguilar was sent off in the 44th minute for hacking down an opponent.

Defending champions Boca Juniors began with a fortuitous 2-1 win at Gimnasia-Jujuy.

Ricardo Noir put Boca ahead in the 73rd minute, scoring from a rebound after Gaston Pezzutti failed to hold Nicolas Gaitan's shot, and Lucas Viatri scored a second from Juan Roman Riquelme's back-heeled pass 11 minutes later.

Pablo Calandria pulled one back for the hosts to give Boca an uncomfortable final few minutes.

BRAZIL

Palmeiras won their seventh straight game of the 2009 season by thrashing Santos 4-1 in the Paulista championship.

Forward Keirrison scored twice, the first from a penalty, after former Barcelona midfielder Edmilson had opened the scoring in the 15th minute for Vanderlei Luxemburgo's team.

Kleber Pereira pulled one back for Santos but Lenny added a fourth for Palmeiras in the 85th minute.

Palmeiras lead the Paulista, the largest of the regional championships which start the Brazilian season, with a maximum 15 points from five games. They have also won both games in the South American Libertadores Cup.

Brazilian champions Sao Paulo won 2-1 at Botafogo-Ribeirao Preto.

Midfielder Hernanes fired Sao Paulo ahead in the 28th minute and Washington scored a 61st minute winner after Branquinho had levelled early in the second half.

Hernanes was sent off in injury-time for a second bookable offence.

NETHERLANDS

AZ Alkmaar registered their 11th successive win, beating Willem II Tilburg 3-1, as they head towards what would be their first title since 1981 while second placed Twente Enschede dropped two points in a 2-2 draw at lowly Graafschap Doetinchem.

With 12 matches remaining, Alkmaar are 11 points ahead of Steve McClaren's Twente, while third-placed Ajax are 14 points behind following a humiliating 4-1 defeat at Vitesse Arnhem.

Swede Lasse Nilsson struck twice for Arnhem against Ajax, where coach Marco van Basten is under fire after collecting one point from the last four matches.

PSV Eindhoven, next week at home to Alkmaar, remain fourth trailing the leaders by 15 points. They beat bottom side Volendam 5-3 but lost new signing Ole Toivonen who was sent off for hitting an opponent.

PORTUGAL

Porto retained the top spot after drawing 1-1 at home with second-placed Benfica. Champions Porto are one point ahead.

Benfica opened the score on the stroke of halftime with French midfielder Yebda appearing unchallenged in the Porto box to head in from a corner taken by Jose Antonio Reyes.

Porto captain Lucho Gonzalez equalised in the 71st minute, converting a penalty after the referee ruled a Yebda challenge on Lisandro Lopez just inside the box was a foul even though there appeared to be little contact.

GREECE

Czech international striker Libor Dosek made a memorable debut for seventh-placed Xanthi, scoring a hat-trick in the 4-0 win over Levadiakos.

Leaders Olympiakos Piraeus beat Panthrakikos 2-0 with goals from Argentines Fernando Belluschi and Luciano Galletti to go 12 points clear as Panathinaikos climbed to second above PAOK Salonika, whom they beat 3-0 in Athens.

Panathinaikos scored three times in nine minutes in the second half. The breakthrough came in the 49th minute when Loukas Vintra met a corner to head powerfully past Costas Chalkias in the PAOK goal.

Six minutes later, Vintra rose again at the back post to head his second. Three minutes after that Sotiris Ninis produced a delightful cross which found the head of Mantzios.

Reuters