Contepomi, who plays at flyhalf or centre, ended his European club career at Stade Francais but expressed a wish to play again for Argentina this year.

The 35-year-old former Leinster back, who has scored more than 600 points for the Pumas, could also end up being picked for Argentina’s second appearance in the southern hemisphere’s Rugby Championship later in the year.

Coach Santiago Phelan named two squads, one of 28 which is largely second string with a mix of home-based players and European exiles for two tests against England and one against Georgia.

“It’s a very demanding window which is a nice opportunity to see a lot of players in action,” Phelan told a news conference.

“They will be very intense matches and top notch. Although England won’t have their players touring with the British and Irish Lions, they will be a top level team and (with players who) compete in very demanding leagues,” he said.

Former Harlequins and Stade Francais centre Gonzalo Tiesi is also in the June squad along with scrumhalf Nicolas Vergallo and flanker Tomas Leonardi, who play for Southern Kings in South Africa.

Phelan picked 21 players for the Rugby Championship team captained by Toulon back row Juan Fernandez Lobbe and will boost the number to 30 after the June tests.

The players in this squad are all based in France or England apart from back row Leonardo Senatore of Gimnasia y Esgrima Rosario.

The Pumas face England on June 8 in the northwestern city of Salta, where Argentina won their last meeting on home soil in 2009, and at the Velez Sarsfield first division soccer ground in Buenos Aires on June 15.

They meet Georgia at a venue yet to be fixed a week later.

Argentina open their Rugby Championship campaign away to South Africa on August 17.

(Reporting by Rex Gowar; editing Martyn Herman)

Contepomi, who plays at flyhalf or centre, ended his European club career at Stade Francais but expressed a wish to play again for Argentina this year.

The 35-year-old former Leinster back, who has scored more than 600 points for the Pumas, could also end up being picked for Argentina’s second appearance in the southern hemisphere’s Rugby Championship later in the year.

Coach Santiago Phelan named two squads, one of 28 which is largely second string with a mix of home-based players and European exiles for two tests against England and one against Georgia.

“It’s a very demanding window which is a nice opportunity to see a lot of players in action,” Phelan told a news conference.

“They will be very intense matches and top notch. Although England won’t have their players touring with the British and Irish Lions, they will be a top level team and (with players who) compete in very demanding leagues,” he said.

Former Harlequins and Stade Francais centre Gonzalo Tiesi is also in the June squad along with scrumhalf Nicolas Vergallo and flanker Tomas Leonardi, who play for Southern Kings in South Africa.

Phelan picked 21 players for the Rugby Championship team captained by Toulon back row Juan Fernandez Lobbe and will boost the number to 30 after the June tests.

The players in this squad are all based in France or England apart from back row Leonardo Senatore of Gimnasia y Esgrima Rosario.

The Pumas face England on June 8 in the northwestern city of Salta, where Argentina won their last meeting on home soil in 2009, and at the Velez Sarsfield first division soccer ground in Buenos Aires on June 15.

They meet Georgia at a venue yet to be fixed a week later.

Argentina open their Rugby Championship campaign away to South Africa on Aug. 17. (Reporting by Rex Gowar; editing Martyn Herman)

Boca, who won the first leg 1-0 at La Bombonera, advanced 2-1 on aggregate to an all-Argentine tie against Rosario-based Newell’s Old Boys with the first leg in Buenos Aires next Thursday.

It was a reversal of last year’s final when Corinthians beat six-times champions Boca to lift South American club soccer’s elite trophy for the first time and provided a major lift for the Argentine side, who are without a win in 12 league matches.

Riquelme surprised Corinthians with a looping shot from out on the right touchline that went over goalkeeper Cassio to put Boca ahead at the Pacaembu in the 25th minute.

The wonder strike came less than a minute after Corinthians were denied a goal in a controversial offside decision when Romarinho slipped between two defenders and steered the ball into Agustin Orion’s net.

Television replays appeared to contradict the linesman’s decision to raise his flag.

Paraguayan referee Carlos Amarilla also missed a handball inside the box early in the match by Boca right back Leandro Marin.

Corinthians equalised early in the second half with a header by midfielder Paulinho but Riquelme’s goal meant the home side needed to find the net two more times to advance, a task that proved beyond them.

“We were confident in the team… we played a good first half, we knew the second would be complicated but now we’re going to celebrate,” former Argentina playmaker Riquelme told Fox Sports.

RIQUELME RETURN

“We’ve not been in good form but we played two great matches,” holding midfielder Leandro Somoza said, referring to both legs of the first knockout round tie.

Corinthians defender Fabio Santos said: “We faced a very good team, we created goal chances, we had opportunities to fire our game but we didn’t manage.”

Riquelme quit Boca after their defeat to Corinthians at the Pacaembu last July and was out for seven months but returned when coach Carlos Bianchi, with whom he had shared in a string of titles almost a decade earlier, took charge again this year.

Orion kept Corinthians at bay in the final half hour, including a block from Peru striker Paolo Guerrero and a chested effort by Paulinho that the goalkeeper turned away for a corner.

Substitute Alexandre Pato also should have scored for Corinthians near the end when he skilfully brought down Guerrero’s low cross at the near post but fluffed his finish.

In Buenos Aires, Newell’s scored an early goal to set up a 2-1 victory over fellow Argentine side Velez Sarsfield to reach the last eight on the away goals rule.

Velez, champions in 1994, had won the first leg 1-0 in Rosario and while the aggregate score was 2-2, Newell’s went through thanks to Wednesday’s two goals at El Fortin.

Milton Casco struck for Newell’s in the third minute and fellow striker Ignacio Scocco, top scorer in the Argentine first division, increased their lead before halftime.

Striker Facundo Ferreyra pulled one back for Velez eight minutes from the end but they were unable to find another goal to take them to the next round.

(Editing by John O’Brien)

Juan Roman Riquelme scored with a brilliant looping shot from near the right touchline to give Boca, 1-0 winners of the first leg in Buenos Aires, the lead in the 25th minute.

Corinthians equalised early in the second half with a header from midfielder Paulinho, but Boca’s away goal meant the home side had to score two more to go through, a task that proved beyond them.

Six-times champions Boca, who had lost to Corinthians in last year’s final at the same Pacaembu stadium in Sao Paulo, will meet Newell’s Old Boys in an all-Argentine quarter-final, with the first leg at La Bombonera next week.

Newell’s scored an early goal on the way to a 2-1 victory over fellow Argentine side Velez Sarsfield to reach the last eight on the away goals rule.

Velez, champions in 1994, had won the first leg 1-0 in Rosario and while the aggregate score was 2-2 Newell’s went through thanks to Wednesday’s two away goals at El Fortin in Buenos Aires. (Editing by Peter Rutherford)

Dropping two points at home prevented Lanus from reclaming the lead in the “Final” championship they lost to Newell’s Old Boys, who beat Godoy Cruz 3-1 on Saturday.

Newell’s have 28 points and Lanus 27 from 13 matches in the “Final”, second of two championships in the season, with River Plate third with 22 points from 12.

Record South American champions Independiente have taken seven points from their last three matches as they fight to avoid losing their top flight status for the first time.

The Red Devils are 12th in the standings with 16 points but they are in the bottom three of the parallel relegation table calculated on teams’ average points over three seasons.

The bottom three are automatically relegated and there are another six matches to the end of season.

“(I’m happy) with the glass half full,” Independiente coach Miguelo Angel Brindisi told reporters. “It’s good to add (a point) after a second match in which we didn’t lose a goal.

“I thought it would be a more open match but there came a point when it looked like a game of chess, whoever made the mistake would lose the match.”

Boca Juniors, like Independiente one of Argentina’s Big Five clubs, went a record 13th match without a victory, going down 3-0 at San Lorenzo on Saturday.

Arch-rivals River Plate, who Boca held 1-1 at home in last weekend’s “superclasico”, will attempt to keep pace with the leaders against All Boys at the Monumental later on Sunday. (Reporting by Rex Gowar; Editing by John Mehaffey)

Atletico won 4-1 on the night to advance to a quarter-finals along with Brazilian champions Fluminense, who won 2-0 to edge their duel with Ecuador’s Emelec 3-2.

An exciting last-16, second leg contest in Belo Horizonte was decided by Atletico’s brilliant finishing with Jo bagging a hat-trick and Diego Tardelli also scoring.

Atletico, looking for their first Libertadores Cup triumph, will meet either fellow Brazilians Palmeiras or Mexico’s Tijuana in the last eight.

It was Sao Paulo’s worst defeat in South America’s elite club competition, which they have won three times.

“It was a team effort because from the first minute we showed that at the Independencia we are strong,” said Jo, who opened the scoring in the 18th minute with a low shot from the edge of the box.

“Once again we managed to win with these marvellous fans, it’s not any team that puts four past Sao Paulo,” the former Everton and Manchester City striker told reporters.

Jo’s second came in the 63rd minute when he beat the offside trap to take Donizete’s headed pass and steer the ball between goalkeeper Rogerio Ceni’s legs.

Atletico scored again almost from the restart with Tardelli chasing a poor headed back pass from Rafael Toloi meant for Ceni and lobbing the goalkeeper.

Ronaldinho laid on Jo’s hat-trick in the 69th when he pulled the ball back close to the goal-line for the striker to steer it home.

Brazil’s form team were on song and the former Barcelona ace, who had hit the bar with a free kick in the second minute, almost rounded off another fine performance with a brilliant solo goal near the end.

Ronaldinho beat four defenders on his way down the left before directing a curling right-footed shot from a narrow angle that just missed the top far corner.

COACH SAFE

Brazil striker Luis Fabiano, who missed Sao Paulo’s 2-1 defeat in the first leg through suspension, pulled one back in the 76th minute.

A player from each side was sent off in added time for fighting, Atletico midfielder Rosinei and Sao Paulo defender Thiago Carleto.

Sao Paulo’s director of football Adalberto Baptista defused criticism surrounding coach Ney Franco by saying he would see out his contract.

“We have to accept (our elimination), congratulate Atletico, they played a good match from the start, dominated the match,” Baptista told Globo.

“There’s only one measure to be taken, we have to work a lot. The (Brazilian) championship is very long and we have to start well… with Ney France, for sure, until the end of the year.”

In Rio de Janeiro, Fluminense captain Fred struck after half an hour to square the tie with Emelec after losing 2-1 in the first leg in Guayaquil last week.

Defender Carlinhos secured Flu’s ticket with a second goal five minutes from time when Emelec were down to nine men.

Argentine Gabriel Achilier was sent off in the 76th minute and fellow defender Pedro Quinonez five minutes later, both for second bookable offences. (Reporting by Rex Gowar; Editing by John O’Brien)

Midfielder Manuel Lanzini rose between Boca’s central defenders to head River into the lead after 45 seconds from winger Carlos Sanchez’s right cross.

Uruguayan striker Santiago Silva equalised six minutes before halftime when he steered the ball right-footed inside the far post from Walter Eriviti’s square ball on the right.

However, the match was held up for close to 10 minutes in the second half when River coach Ramon Diaz was sent to the stands for allegedly insulting the referee and hardcore Boca fans behind the River goal lit flares and threw objects including petards on to the pitch.

Some objects hit River goalkeeper Marcelo Barovero, who appeared to tell referee German Delfino his team could not play on under the circumstances.

Delfino, who dished out yellow cards to several players on each side in a keenly contested clash between the most bitter rivals in South America, opted not to abandon the match and added 12 minutes on to the 90.

“We’re going with a bitter taste, we came for the three points we lacked cool heads in front of goal,” said Lanzini, whose team, unbeaten in six matches and challenging for the title, squandered several chances.

River retained third place and are four points behind leaders Lanus, who won 2-1 at Argentinos Juniors on Saturday. Newell’s Old Boys can reclaim top place if they win at Arsenal on Monday night.

Boca, near the bottom of the “Final” championship standings after going 11 matches without a victory in the league, had defender Guillermo Burdisso sent off for a two-footed challenge on Sanchez in the dying minutes.

MISSED CHANCE

River should have been two goals ahead when Silva scored for Boca but in the 35th minute Sanchez contrived to lob an easy chance the wrong side of the post after Juan Manuel Iturbe’s left cross had beaten the defence.

Boca nearly snatched victory from a last gasp corner when Barovero saved point-blank from substitute Gonzalo Escalante at his near post.

After a 2-2 draw at the Monumental in October in the “Inicial” championship in the first half of the season, both derbies have been drawn since River returned from relegation in 2011.

River have not won at La Bombonera since 2004.

Independiente, another of Argentina’s co-called Big Five clubs, won 2-0 at Tigre for their second successive victory in a tough battle to avoid relegation for the first time.

Young Paraguayan striker Adrian Fernandez scored both goals, the first a fine lob over goalkeeper Javier Garcia from 40 metres in the eighth minute.

Fernandez made it two in the 40th when he raced through to hit Colombian striker Juan Caicedo’s square ball on the edge of the box. Garcia parried it coming out near the penalty spot but the ball looped high and dropped into the goal just below the crossbar.

Striker Silvio Romero hit both goals for Lanus to take his tally to eight at the top of the scorers’ list (Reporting by Rex Gowar, editing by Pritha Sarkar)

A gutsy 1-0 home win over holders Corinthians in the Libertadores Cup on Wednesday has lifted the gloom at Boca after 10 league matches and three months without a victory.

River come to the Bombonera cauldron for the first time since a 2-0 defeat there in 2011 marked the start of their slide towards their first relegation.

The first clash between the sides since River’s promotion was at the Monumental in October when Boca recovered from a two-goal deficit in the last 15 minutes for a 2-2 draw.

River have had a far better “Final” league championship than Boca, challenging for the title with six wins in 11 matches and unbeaten in their last five.

“We’re happy with the way the team played. We did things properly,” said midfielder Walter Erviti, who took Boca’s playmaking duties against Corinthians in the absence of injured Juan Roman Riquelme.

“But the clasicos are different, let’s hope we can win and not suffer as much (as at River),” added Erviti, who scored the last-gasp equaliser in October.

Boca fans thought their team would instantly become world beaters again when record title-winning coach Carlos Bianchi took the helm again this year nearly a decade after the end of his previous spell at the club.

Instead they have struggled, whereas Ramon Diaz´s return to River, where he too holds the record for most titles won, has had the opposite effect boosting a team that needed to shake off the trauma of relegation.

Unlike Boca, River only have domestic competition to focus on.

“They will be rested,” Bianchi said. “They have one commitment per week.”

Riquelme is unlikely to play on Sunday after Bianchi said he was thinking of using him instead for the return leg against Corinthians in Sao Paulo in 12 days time.

“Better if Roman doesn’t play,” said River’s 20-year-old playmaker Manuel Lanzini, who spent last season on loan at Brazilian champions Fluminense.

“From a dead ball he can settle the match, he’s a fantastic player… But we shouldn’t worry about who’s on the other side and do our own things well.”

River are without former France striker David Trezeguet, who will not be available again until next season after knee surgery.

(Reporting by Rex Gowar; Editing by Toby Davis)

* Superclasico is the name for the biggest derby in Argentine football which has numerous “clasicos”. The next biggest in Buenos Aires is Independiente against Racing Club in the suburb of Avellaneda.

* Xeneixes: Boca’s nickname, meaning Genovese in dialect after the large number of immigrants from the Italian port city of Genoa who settled in La Boca, a poor barrio of Buenos Aires, at the mouth (boca) of the Riachuelo river that flows into the Rio de la Plata (River Plate), where both teams were founded, River in 1901 and Boca 1905.

* Millonarios: River’s nickname from 1931, the first year of professional football in Argentina when they paid 10,000 pesos, a huge sum, for winger Carlos Peucelle. After finishing third in the 1931 championship, River spent 105,000 pesos strengthening their squad, paying Tigre a then world record 35,000 for striker Bernabe Ferreyra, and winning the title in 1932 with Ferreyra as top scorer with 42 goals.

* La Bombonera (Chocolate Box): Boca Juniors’ peculiarly shaped stadium tucked between a street and railway tracks with two decks of stands on one side and two tiers of terraces at either end. The fourth side is a vertical section of boxes. The tightly enclosed shape adds to the cauldron atmosphere.

* Gallinas (chickens): Rivals’ nickname for River since 1966. River lost 4-2 to Uruguay’s Penarol in the Libertadores Cup final that year after leading 2-0. In their next league match they played at Banfield, whose fans threw a chicken onto the pitch. The nickname was reinforced at the next “superclasico” at River’s Monumental when the home team lost and the newspaper Cronica ran a headline: “This chicken run is closed for lack of eggs (guts).”

* Bosteros: Rivals’ nickname for Boca from the word “bosta”, meaning dung. La Boca used to be prone to flooding when the Sudestada, southeastery wind, whipped up the Rio de la Plata and the excrement in the sewers came back onto the streets of the barrio. Late River playmaker and coach Angel Labruna would walk onto the pitch at La Bombonera holding his nose.

* Names and colours: When football took hold in Argentina at the turn of the 20th century, it was popular to give newly-founded teams an English name, hence Boca Juniors, who took their colours from the flag of a Swedish ship that happened to be in port at the time of their founding. River Plate, who wear white shirts with a red diagonal band, took their name from the English version of Rio de la Plata stamped on crates of imported goods from Britain in the port of Buenos Aires.

(Compiled by Rex Gowar; editing by Toby Davis)

* Superclasico is the name for the biggest derby in Argentine football which has numerous “clasicos”. The next biggest in Buenos Aires is Independiente against Racing Club in the suburb of Avellaneda.

* Xeneixes: Boca’s nickname, meaning Genovese in dialect after the large number of immigrants from the Italian port city of Genoa who settled in La Boca, a poor barrio of Buenos Aires, at the mouth (boca) of the Riachuelo river that flows into the Rio de la Plata (River Plate), where both teams were founded, River in 1901 and Boca 1905.

* Millonarios: River’s nickname from 1931, the first year of professional football in Argentina when they paid 10,000 pesos, a huge sum, for winger Carlos Peucelle. After finishing third in the 1931 championship, River spent 105,000 pesos strengthening their squad, paying Tigre a then world record 35,000 for striker Bernabe Ferreyra, and winning the title in 1932 with Ferreyra as top scorer with 42 goals.

* La Bombonera (Chocolate Box): Boca Juniors’ peculiarly shaped stadium tucked between a street and railway tracks with two decks of stands on one side and two tiers of terraces at either end. The fourth side is a vertical section of boxes. The tightly enclosed shape adds to the cauldron atmosphere.

* Gallinas (chickens): Rivals’ nickname for River since 1966. River lost 4-2 to Uruguay’s Penarol in the Libertadores Cup final that year after leading 2-0. In their next league match they played at Banfield, whose fans threw a chicken onto the pitch. The nickname was reinforced at the next “superclasico” at River’s Monumental when the home team lost and the newspaper Cronica ran a headline: “This chicken run is closed for lack of eggs (guts).”

* Bosteros: Rivals’ nickname for Boca from the word “bosta”, meaning dung. La Boca used to be prone to flooding when the Sudestada, southeastery wind, whipped up the Rio de la Plata and the excrement in the sewers came back onto the streets of the barrio. Late River playmaker and coach Angel Labruna would walk onto the pitch at La Bombonera holding his nose.

* Names and colours: When football took hold in Argentina at the turn of the 20th century, it was popular to give newly-founded teams an English name, hence Boca Juniors, who took their colours from the flag of a Swedish ship that happened to be in port at the time of their founding. River Plate, who wear white shirts with a red diagonal band, took their name from the English version of Rio de la Plata stamped on crates of imported goods from Britain in the port of Buenos Aires. (Compiled by Rex Gowar; editing by Toby Davis)