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Juan Roman Riquelme has received a ringing vote of confidence from Boca Juniors fans, who had a busy weekend all told.

ARGENTINA

Boca Juniors playmaker Juan Roman Riquelme was given a rapturous reception in his first game since quitting the Argentine national side.

The Bombonera stadium echoed to cries of "Riquelme" as Boca took the field for their game with Argentinos Juniors and fans displayed banners supporting the enigmatic midfielder.

Riquelme blamed Argentina coach Diego Maradona, himself a Boca fan and hero among the club's followers, for his surprise decision last week to quit, saying they could not work together.

Some fans turned against Maradona with banners calling him a traitor for comments he made about Riquelme's playing style last week which upset the former Barcelona and Villarreal player and prompted his decision to quit.

"I'm happy with the decision I've made and I hope I don't have to talk about this subject any more," Riquelme said.

Boca won 3-0, defender Juan Forlin and strikers Luciano Figueroa and Rodrigo Palacio sharing the goals, and moved up to ninth in the Clausura championship with nine points from six games, six behind leaders Lanus who beat Colon 2-1.

Troubled Racing Club won for the first time in the championship, beating Godoy Cruz 1-0 with a 75th minute header from Pablo Caballero.

The visitors had Hernan Encina sent off in the 38th minute after he was booked twice in three minutes.

Despite the win, Racing, who have just emerged from 10 years of bankruptcy and are one of the country's most popular clubs, remained bottom with four points.

BOLIVIA

Francisco Esteche faces a ban of up to 40 games after his astonishing loss of temper in Wilstermann's 2-2 draw at home to Universitario de Sucre.

Esteche was booked for dissent in the 34th minute and reacted by pushing referee Joaquin Antequera, which earned him a red card.

The furious Paraguayan then kicked the official while his team mates also protested and had to be calmed by their coach.

"He pushed me, so I showed him the red card and then he kicked me twice," Antequera was quoted as saying in La Razon newspaper.

Nicolas Raimondi scored twice in three minutes to put Universitario ahead after halftime but the Aviators fought back to draw with goals from Pablo Salinas and Edgar Olivares.

Universitario had Rolando Ribera sent off midway though the second half.

There was more controversy in Oriente Petrolero's 2-1 win over The Strongest when television replays showed that Miguel Angel Cuellar used his hand to score Oriente's first goal in the 34th minute.

The Strongest goalkeeper Damian Grosso was booked for protesting and later sent off after receiving another yellow card.

Limberg Gutierrez equalised in the 53rd minute before Wilmer Zabala scored the winner eight minutes later to give Argentine coach Pablo Sanchez his first win.

CHILE

Universidad Catolica beat Colo Colo 1-0 in Sunday's derby with a 14th minute goal from Matias Rubio, who collected a pass in midfield, broke forward and found the top corner from the edge of the penalty area.

The win enabled Catolica's outspoken coach Marco Antonio Figueroa to continue a run of success against Colo Colo which he also enjoyed last year in charge of Cobreloa.

"Colo Colo still haven't been able to beat me as a coach," he said.

Palestino's Juan Manuel Quevedo scored a hat-trick of penalties in his team's 4-2 win over Universidad de Concepcion. Roman Cuello scored the other goal and Julio Cesar Laffatigue replied twice for the visitors.

PARAGUAY

Olimpia, who fired coach Ever Almeida last week despite being unbeaten in their first four games, suffered a shock 1-0 defeat at home to promoted Rubio Nu in their first match under his replacement Gregorio Perez.

Sabino Leiva scored in the eighth minute for Rubio Nu, who are coached by former Paraguay defender Francisco Arce.

Leaders Cerro Porteno have a maximum 15 points from five games in the Apertura championship after coming from behind to beat Sol de America 2-1 despite a missed penalty by Walter Fretes on the half hour.

Cesar Ramirez and Jorge Britez scored in the second half to wipe out Carlos Alvarenga's early strike.

Libertad, champions four times in a row, lost 2-1 to Sportivo Luqueno and dropped to seventh with seven points.

COLOMBIA

Thirteen-times champions Millonarios were held 1-1 at home by Once Caldas, leaving them 17th in the 18-team Apertura championship table with five points from seven games.

Former South American champions Atletico Nacional, another popular side, are bottom with four points after drawing 2-2 at Cucuta.

Titleholders America, 13th with eight points, also drew, 1-1 at home to Boyaca Chico.

URUGUAY

Nineteen-year-old Jonathan Ramis, who had made only two brief substitute appearances for Penarol, scored twice after replacing experienced Carlos Bueno to give them a 2-0 win over Cerro Lago.

The win left Penarol level on 10 points from four games with Defensor Sporting at the top of the championship's second stage. Defensor came from behind to beat River Plate 3-1.

PERU

Modest Juan Aurich went top of the 2009 championship's first stage with a 1-0 win at CNI thanks to a 77th minute goal from William Chiroque while titleholders Deportivo San Martin came from behind to beat Melgar 3-1.

ECUADOR

Army club El Nacional went top of the 2009 championship's first stage with a 2-0 win over troubled Barcelona.

Ronald Campos opened the scoring in the seventh minute and Jorge Ladines added the second on the break 12 minutes from time.

El Nacional lead on goal difference from Espoli and Macara.

MIDWEEK COPA LIBERTADORES

Chilean champions Colo Colo scored three times in eight minutes to hand titleholders LDU a 3-0 defeat in their Copa Libertadores.

Argentine forward Cesar Carranza broke the deadlock when he hooked in Luis Figueroa's cross in the 57th minute of the Group One match in Santiago.

Defender Roberto Cereceda added the second four minutes later in a move that he started and finished himself, and Lucas Barrios latched onto Rodrigo Millar's pass to slot home the third in the 65th minute.

Colo Colo went top of the group with six points from three games, ahead of Brazil's Sport Recife, who have a game in hand, on goal difference.

LDU, who last year became the first Ecuadorean side to win the trophy, are third with three points from three games.

LDU have lost three key players - midfielder Enrique Vera and strikers Luis Bolanos and Joffre Guerron - as well as coach Edgardo Bauza from last year's team.

Pedro Garcia scored twice in eight minutes in the second half to give Peruvian champions Deportivo San Martin a 2-1 win at home to Paraguayans Nacional in Group Three.

Garcia scored after Gonzalo Ludena broke from the halfway line in the 52nd minute and headed in from another chance created by Luduena on the hour.

Heber Arriola pulled one back for the visitors in the 71st minute.

San Martin, who pulled off a shock win over Argentina's River Plate last week, went level on six points with Uruguay's Nacional, who lead on goal difference.

Paraguay's Nacional are bottom of the group after losing all three games. River Plate, who started as favourites to win the group, have three points.

NETHERLANDS

AZ Alkmaar stretched their unbeaten run to 25 matches after a 1-0 win over Utrecht thanks to an early goal from Maarten Martens. They maintain their 11-point lead in the Dutch league with seven matches remaining.

Second placed Twente Enschede cruised to a 2-0 victory at Willem II Tilburg to stay three points ahead of Ajax Amsterdam who beat bottom side Graafschap Doetinchem 3-0.

Mid-table Feyenoord overcame PSV Eindhoven 1-0 with youngster Leroy Fer heading home the winner, meaning that PSV officially lost their title as they are 23 points behind Alkmaar.

PORTUGAL

Porto extended their lead at the top of the Portuguese Premier League to four points with a 2-0 win over Naval, while Benfica lost 1-0 at home to Guimaraes and dropped to third after Sporting beat Rio Ave 2-0.

Porto lead on 48 points after 22 matches, followed by Sporting on 44 points and Benfica on 43.

Argentine forward Mariano Gonzalez scored Porto's first with a low drive from outside the box on 30 minutes and was also involved in the second, providing the assist for Lucho Gonzalez to finish coolly from near the penalty spot in the 68th minute.

GREECE

Olympiakos moved a step closer to their 12th league title in 13 years as they thrashed Iraklis 5-0 in the Greek Super League.

Vassilis Torosidis ended Olympiakos' recent scoring drought - which had lasted 345 minutes in the league - when he headed in the opener in the 60th minute. That was followed by two each from Oscar Gonzales and late substitute Matt Derbyshire.

The win means that, with four rounds remaining, Olympiakos need just four points to clinch the title. They are nine points clear of Panathinaikos who needed a Dimitris Salpigidis penalty to beat Thrasyvoulos Filis 1-0.

RUSSIA

Champions Rubin Kazan kicked off their title defence with a 3-0 home win over promoted Kuban Krasnodar after striker Aleksandr Bukharov scored twice and set up a third for captain Sergei Semak.

UEFA Cup holders Zenit St Petersburg earned a 1-1 draw at Spartak Moscow in the opening round's big match after their striker Pavel Pogrebnyak cancelled out an early opener by his opposite number Ivan Saenko.

CSKA Moscow enjoyed a 3-0 success at Saturn Ramenskoye, Dynamo Moscow beat city foes FC Moscow 1-0 at home and Krylya Sovietov Samara won 1-0 at Tom Tomsk.

UKRAINE

Front-runners Dynamo Kiev, chasing their 13th Ukrainian title after winning as many in the former Soviet Union, came from behind to beat Metalurg Zaporizhya 3-1 away to go 12 points clear at the top.

Champions Shakhtar Donetsk leapfrogged Metalist Kharkiv into second after beating them 3-0 away to round off a bad week for their rivals, who also lost 1-0 to Dynamo in their UEFA Cup last-16 first-leg match on Thursday.

Dynamo striker Artem Milevsky set up Milos Ninkovic and Brazilian midfielder Correa either side of his own clinical finish after Olexiy Hodin had given the home side the lead with a thunderbolt from 25 metres.

SERBIA

Champions and league leaders Partizan Belgrade beat city rivals Cukaricki 2-0 at home to go eight points clear of second-placed Vojvodina Novi Sad, who were held to a 1-1 draw at fifth-placed Borac Cacak.

Brazilian midfielder Antonello Juca fired Partizan ahead when he swept home a rebound from eight metres and new signing Nemanja Tomic headed home his first goal for the club in the closing stages.

Former European Cup winners Red Star Belgrade stayed third, nine points off the pace, after they fought back from 2-0 behind with a man down after defender Jefferson Silva was sent off to salvage a 2-2 draw at struggling neighbours OFK Belgrade.

POLAND

Lech Poznan stayed on course for their first league title in 16 years after a 1-1 draw at bottom team Gornik Zabrze sent them three points clear of Legia Warsaw, who slipped to a 2-1 defeat at Jagiellonia Bialystok.

Midfielder Semir Stilic scored a 90th-minute equaliser for Lech, while Tomasz Frankowski and Dariusz Jarecki were on target for Jagiellonia after Takesure Chinyama had given Legia the lead.

Third-placed champions Wisla Krakow, who trail the leaders by five points, missed a chance to close in after they laboured to a 0-0 draw at sixth-placed GKS Belchatow.

AFRICA

Egypt's Al Ahli made a comfortable start to the defence of their African Champions League crown by beating Young Africans of Tanzania 3-0 in the first leg of their second-round tie in Cairo.

Mohamed Barakat scored twice and Angola international Flavio scored in between for Al Ahli, who are seeking to extend their record number of Champions League successes to seven.

They were two goals up after 20 minutes and Barakat added the third early in the second half.

Al Ahli's confident start contrasted with that of other top north African contenders in their second round, first leg match-ups on Sunday.

Former winners JS Kabylie of Algeria and Club Africain of Tunisia both lost 2-1 at home to Libyan and Malian opposition respectively.

Reuters