Adriano makes debut in comfort as Corinthians go top

Will he fire Corinthians to the title? (Globoesporte)

Fantastic afternoon for Corinthians yesterday: they thrashed Atlético GO 3-0, moved to the top of the league table and Adriano made his long awaited debut with a 15 minute run out. He received a rapturous reception from the home fans crammed into the Pacaembu stadium. With the game in the bag, all the pressure off, this was the perfect run out for a player who claims to be only 20% fit.

With him, Liedson and Emerson all coming back into contention in the next few weeks, Corinthians will be spoilt for choice up front. This is something you couldn’t say last year and ultimately their title hopes faded at the feet of a grossly overweight and immobile Ronaldo, who was their only option up front. Times have changed and the feel good factor has certainly arrived for Corinthians. With ten games to go and all their men coming back, Corinthians now look like title favourites if you ask me.

Vasco dropped into second place after they were outclassed down in the south and hammered 3-0 by Internacional. They are only one point behind Corinthians but are they showing signs of cracking under pressure?

Another team that seem to be feeling the pressure are Botafogo who drew at home with Bahia on Saturday night. Third placed São Paulo threw away points in their match with Cruzeiro that was played earlier in the week. The prefect afternoon for Corinthians.

The best match was in Rio where Flamengo and Fluminense played out a classic. This is the sort of game that had 0-0 written all over it before kick-off, especially with Ronaldinho and Fred both missing thanks to national team duty. It was 0-0 at half time but the game exploded into life in the second half.

Bottinelli broke Fluminense hearts (Vipcomm)

Fluminense took the lead twice but the Argentine sub Bottinelli broke their hearts with two goals brilliant goals. Unbelievable. Check them out in the highlights package below. Who needs Ronaldinho when you can do that? Check it out below. Fluminense have been in brilliant form over the last few months but I wonder what sort of impact this result will have on their belief? Will this knock the stuffing out of them and put the wind in Flamengo’s sails? Don’t write either team off.

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