Chilean Primera Division Review: Huachipato, Santiago Wanderers opening-day winners

Huachipato and Santiago Wanderers were both 3-0 winners as the Apertura campaign of the Chilean Primera Division kicked off on the weekend.

Mario Salas’ Huachipato eased past Nublense at the Estadio CAP in the opening round of the 2014 season on Sunday.

Two goals in the first half from Francisco Arrue and Argentinean Lucas Simon set the tone before Martin Rodriguez sealed the result with 26 minutes remaining in Talcahuano.

Nublense ended the match with 10 men after Luis Pavez was shown a red card in the 77th minute.

At the Estadio Elias Figueroa Brander, Roberto Gutierrez’s first-half brace inspired home side Santiago Wanderers to a resounding win over Barnechea on Saturday.

Gutierrez scored two goals in three minutes before the half-time interval and Argentina’s Jorge Luna capped the dominant performance with a goal of his own on the hour-mark.

In other results across the weekend, Universidad Chile accounted for 10-man Cobresal 3-1 on Sunday.

The match was over as a contest before the break following first-half goals from Matias Corujo, Sebastian Ubilla and Patricio Rubio.

Cobresal’s woes were compounded in the 88th minute when Patricio Jerez was sent off for a second bookable offence, though the visitors salvage some pride with a late goal from Carlos Escobar.

Defending Apertura champions O’Higgins kicked off their title defence with a 2-1 win at Union La Calera.

Cobreloa defeated Palestino 2-1 away from home courtesy of first-half strikes from Diego Silva and Gustavo Cristaldo.

Union Espanola overcame Audax Italiano 1-0, while Universidad Catolica were the other winners after downing Antofagasta by the same scoreline.

Chilean powerhouses Colo Colo could only salvage a 1-1 draw at San Marcos after Esteban Paredes’ 68th-minute penalty secured a share of the spoils.

Meanwhile, Deportes Iquique played out a 1-1 draw with Universidad Concepcion.