Soccer-Fans riot after Colon refuse to play over unpaid wages

BUENOS AIRES, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Police used rubber bullets to quell rioting fans after players from Argentine side Colon refused to take the field for Monday's home match against Atletico Rafaela due to seven months unpaid wages. Colon fans tried to storm the club premises in Santa Fe city while police attempted to break up the riot with rubber bullets, sports daily Ole reported on its website (www.ole.com.ar). The team could be fined or docked three points. They were docked six points on orders from world governing body FIFA earlier this month over a $600,000 transfer debt dating back to 2007. On the field, Newell's Old Boys were toppled from top of the table in a 2-1 defeat at Tigre. Newell's striker David Trezeguet missed a penalty as the defending champions endured their fifth match without a victory. They have taken three points from a possible 15. With the score tied at 1-1, Tigre defender Gaston Diaz was judged to have handled the ball in the box but Trezeguet blasted his penalty over the bar. Diaz had the satisfaction of scoring Tigre's winner with a 63rd minute penalty of his own. "We must lift our heads and keep working to correct our mistakes," Trezeguet told Futbol Para Todos. "We're still there among a close bunch at the top and will try to win the championship," SAINTS TOP San Lorenzo, who went top of the Inicial championship on Saturday after a 4-2 home victory over Belgrano, have 30 points, one more than Newell's with three matches to go. Boca Juniors dropped to fifth on 27 points after Sunday's 3-2 loss to Arsenal, who climbed to joint third (28) with in-form Lanus, whose 3-2 win at All Boys on Saturday was their fifth victory in a row. Ahead of Boca's match, coach Carlos Bianchi had complained about Agustin Orion being taken away for two friendlies in the United States as the Argentine national team's third-choice goalkeeper. Orion's understudy, Emanuel Tripodi, again conceded three goals in his second consecutive stand-in appearance after playing in the 3-0 defeat at Olimpo two months ago when Orion was on World Cup qualifying duty. Boca's arch-rivals River Plate crashed to a 3-1 defeat at home to relegation candidates Olimpo, who had picked up one point from their previous four matches. River have gone seven matches without a win in the league, four of them at their Monumental home, picking up a mere three points and scoring only two goals. One of the great Argentine teams with a strong tradition of attractive, attacking football, River struggled to create chances playing with two holding midfielders at home against Olimpo, who are bottom of the relegation table. Relegation in the first division is decided on teams' average points over three seasons, with Colon also in danger of dropping into the bottom three to be relegated in May. "The people's disapproval is justified ... We can't play like this," said Diaz, a record title-winning coach at River in two previous spells in charge. (Reporting by Rex Gowar; Editing by Peter Rutherford)