Chaos erupted in Argentina's top flight when a referee extraordinarily ran into a player before sending him off, the second of three red cards on the night.

The incident happened during the clash between second-placed San Lorenzo and Atletico Tucuman, who sit third from bottom in 26th.

Atletico went down to 10 men when Ignacio Maestro Puch was shown a red in the 43rd minute for a dangerous challenge following a lengthy VAR review.

Just a minute later, referee Fernando Espinoza, a controversial figure in Argentine football, looked to have shoved Guillermo Costa, who was protesting

Espinoza then decided to show the defender a yellow card before immediately sending him off to bring the hosts down to nine men on the stroke of half-time.

The referee had to be escorted into the tunnel in a fiery atmosphere at half-time and he even got into a disagreement with a police officer.

The controversy didn't end there as there was a third sending-off of the night nine minutes into the second half when San Lorenzo's Gaston Alan Hernandez was given his marching orders for a stamp.

San Lorenzo had taken the lead after just seven minutes through Ivan Ezequiel Leguizamon's superb solo strike into the bottom corner

Winger Nahuel Barrios doubled the lead before Fernando Romero got one back for the hosts in the 25th minute.

But Leguizamon secured the win for San Lorenzo with his second goal of the night just before the hour after cutting in from the left.