Colo Colo and Católica sparkle in goal-crazy weekend

A glut of goals characterised the fifth round of the Chilean Clausura – with Colo Colo and Universidad Católica leading the way.

Santiago – The albos and Cruzados both notched up 5-3 wins on a weekend which saw a whopping 40 goals in nine games, almost 4.5 per game.

Table-topping Colo Colo rounded off the goal feast with their comfortable victory against Huachipato. Striker Esteban Paredes led the way with a hat-trick, while Emiliano Vecchio, with a great strike, and Mauro Olivi also netted.

It means Colo Colo have a two-point lead at the top of the table after five matches. It was their second successive five-goal haul, after their 5-2 win at Iquique last week.

Albos boss Héctor Tapia tried to play down the wave of optimism that his side´s recent goalscoring feats have created.

He said: “We beat a very good rival, but we´re not always going to win with that quantity of goals. The fans have to understand that the important thing is the victory, even if it´s 1-0.”

Católica saw off Palestino in a San Carlos de Apoquindo thriller. Dario Botinelli scored twice for the Cruzados, both from the spot, but the pick of the bunch was Fernando Cordero´s piledriver that flew in off the underside of the crossbar.

Debutant Renato ´the shark´ Ramos scored twice for Palestino on his debut. The árabes are third and Católica fourth, both three points behind Colo Colo.

Meanwhile, the other ´grande´ Universidad de Chile, in fifth, made it three straight wins under new boss Cristián Romero with an impressive 3-1 win at previously unbeaten Antofagasta. Ramón Fernández opened the scoring with a beautiful free-kick, while Pato Rubio moved to the top of the scoring charts with two well-taken goals.

The ex-Unión Española striker´s second, and fifth of the campaign, literally burst the back of the net and showed he is back to his best.

Nelson Acosta earned his first win as Everton boss since his return as the Ruleteros won 3-2 at faltering Universidad de Concepción. After failing to score in their first four matches, Everton built a 3-0 lead before withstanding a late U de Conce comeback.

Everton still prop up the division, but they are now level on points with second-bottom Ñublense, who lost 3-2 at Unión Española. Carlos Salom struck twice for the home side, who climbed to eighth place.

Three matches were won by 2-0 margins at the weekend. Champions O´Higgins rose to second in the table on the back of their home win against Santiago Wanderers at the Monumental. Albert Acevedo and Luis Pedro Figueroa struck in the last 20 minutes.

Iquique won at Unión La Calera, helped by the early dismissal of Calera´s Manuel Berríos for a foul on Manuel Villalobos. Rengo Díaz opened the scoring with a top-notch free-kick in the 63^rd minute before setting up Gerson Martínez to wrap things up 15 minutes later.

Gabriel Méndez netted his fourth goal of the season as Cobreloa won 2-0 at home against Audax Italiano. The only draw of the round saw Cobresal and Rangers finish 2-2.