Soccer-Falcao on target for River in victory over San Lorenzo

BUENOS AIRES Feb 24 (Reuters) - Colombian striker Radamel Falcao scored his first goal of the season to send River Plate on the way to a 2-0 victory over San Lorenzo in the third round of the Argentina Clausura championship on Sunday.

The match also marked an unhappy return to Buenos Aires for San Lorenzo midfielder Andres D'Alessandro, who was substituted after picking up a muscle strain in the first game against his former club since completing a loan move from Real Zaragoza.

Falcao opened the scoring with a diving header in the 28th minute and was unlucky not to double the advantage after linking effectively with Ariel Ortega.

Matias Abelairas put the game out of reach for the hosts nine minutes into the second half when he finished off an excellent passing move.

The victory moved River up to fourth place in the standings, level on points with arch rivals Boca Juniors, who beat San Martin 2-0 by virtue of a brace of goals from veteran striker Martin Palermo.

Estudiantes-La Plata and Velez Sarsfield remain locked together at the top of the table after picking up their third wins in as many matches.

Estudiantes crushed Newell's Old Boys 5-2 and Velez coasted to a 3-0 win at Banfield. Both teams have identical records and goal differences.

Apertura champions Lanus crushed Colon-Santa Fe 5-1 to move up to fifth place, three points behind the leaders.

(Reporting by Luis Ampuero; Writing by Gareth Chetwynd; Editing by John O'Brien)