📝River Plate 1-3 Patronato: La Banda lose to league bottom-feeders | OneFootball

Sitting in 12th place, River Plate faced off against lowly Patronato on Sunday. The team in dead-last traveled to El Monumental but apparently saw the mighty Milionarios more as vulnerable than formidable.

River suffered their fifth league defeat in their past seven matches, including three straight losses at home.

The match was a night to remember for Patronato forward Gabriel Ávalos. The 28-year-old Paraguayan scored a hat-trick and ensured continued misery whenever fans of La Banda look at the Superliga Argentina table.

Ávalos scored his first goal of the night in the 13th minute with a right-footed strike across goalkeeper Germán Lux after a great entry pass from Gabriel Compagnucci.

The Paraguayan nabbed his brace in the 36th minute when he powered home Compagnucci’s cross after being left completely unmarked in the area.

Less than ten minutes into the second half, Ávalos completed his hat-trick with another assist from Compagnucci.

The Patronato forward timed his run to beat the offside line and neatly chipped his shot over the onrushing Lux to score his third goal in the 53rd minute of his debut for the club after joining from Godoy Cruz last week.

River Plate forward Santos Borré had strenuously claimed a penalty for handball when the score was still level but the referee waved away his protests.

Cristian Ferreira pulled one back for the home side in the 63rd minute but that was far from enough to spark a comeback.

The victory peels Patronato off the bottom of the league table and into 25th place, through Argentinos Juniors may overtake them after their match on Monday.

River Plate remain on 19 points after 14 matches, good enough to retain 12th place in the Superliga Argentina league table.