BUENOS AIRES, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Midfielder Juan Roman Riquelme, an outcast at his club Villarreal, scored two majestic free kicks to give Argentina a 2-0 win over Chile in

their opening World Cup qualifier on Saturday.

Riquelme, who has not played for his Spanish club this

season after falling out with coach Manuel Pellegrini, curled

his first effort into the top right-hand corner from the edge

of the area in the 27th minute.

The mercurial midfielder produced an even more impressive

shot from around 30 metres to increase Argentina's lead in the

45th minute and upstage team mate Lionel Messi.

Chile's problems increased when defender Cristian Alvarez

was sent off in the 54th minute for crashing into Javier

Mascherano.

'I was in luck,' Riquelme told reporters. 'The important

thing is that Argentina keep winning.'

Argentina coach Alfio Basile said he was always confident

in Riquelme.

'People can think what they like about Riquelme,' Basile

said. 'When I selected him, I knew he had been training well.

'A player of his standard is not going to forget how to

play football.'

The match was an unhappy homecoming for Chile's Argentine

coach Marcelo Bielsa, who was in charge of Argentina from 1998

to 2004.

'The performance in general is not one which we can be

satisfied about,' he said after his first competitive game as

Chile coach.

Chile bravely took the game to the hosts early on but

failed to create any clear-cut chances, apart from a run and

shot from Humberto Suazo which flew wide.

Riquelme, whose last game was in the 3-0 defeat by Brazil

in the Copa America in July, had Argentina's best effort with a

25-metre shot in the seventh minute before firing them ahead.

Maxi Rodriguez and Carlos Tevez both went close for

Argentina before Riquelme struck again on the stroke of

halftime.

Riquelme had a chance to complete a hat-trick of free kicks

early in the second half but this time his shot flew high and

wide.

After Alvarez's dismissal, Chile goalkeeper Claudio Bravo

was lucky not to be sent off as well when he escaped with a

yellow card for rushing out of his area and upending Messi.

Riquelme rolled the resulting free kick to Messi, whose

deflected shot hit the post.