Independiente beat Lanus 3:1 in the Clausura fifth round of Argentina's Professional League on Sunday at Estadio Ciudad de Lanus. Lautaro Millan opened the scoring in the thirty-seventh minute and doubled his tally just before half-time, while Allan Steven Wlk Dure pulled one back for the hosts in the fiftieth minute. A late goal from M. Gutierrez in the ninety-fourth minute sealed the visitors' win.
Millan's first goal came in the thirty-seventh minute, catching the defence unawares. He added a second in the forty-seventh minute, and though Wlk Dure responded for Lanus in the fiftieth, the visitors maintained their advantage. The substitute M. Gutierrez secured the result in the ninety-fourth minute, arriving after Avalos had been replaced in the ninety-first minute.
By then the match had settled into a pattern of possession without penetration. Lanus held 52 per cent of the ball and registered 105 attacks compared with 87 for the visitors, yet Independiente took fewer shots and converted them more efficiently. The hosts registered six shots on target with an accuracy of 29 per cent, while the visitors managed four attempts with identical precision. Expected goals favoured Lanus at 1.92 to 1.16, but the reward went to the side that took its chances.
Substitutions reshaped both sides in the second half. Millan came off in the sixty-first minute alongside Perez Curci, and Salvio replaced Wlk Dure six minutes later. The hosts made three changes in the seventy-seventh minute — Pena Biafore for Montiel, Palais for the departing player — before Guidara was withdrawn in the eighty-fifth minute. Avalos was the final substitution, replaced in the ninety-first minute.
The disciplinary record showed five yellow cards in total. Carrera went off for Lanus in the sixty-ninth minute, while Marcone and Avalos received cards for the visitors in the eighty-seventh minute. Acosta was booked for Lanus in the eighty-ninth minute, and Rey took a yellow for Independiente in the ninety-fifth minute.
Both clubs sit on 24 points from 16 games, with six wins, six draws and four defeats each. Lanus occupy sixth place and Independiente fifth, so the result kept the gap between them at one position. The visitors' recent form had been difficult — losses to Tucuman, Platense and Velez — while Lanus had shown vulnerability with defeats to Coroba and Cienfuegos.