Is São Paulo’s crown heading south?

Grêmio's Perea

Grêmio took another significant step towards their first title since 1996 after seeing off title rivals São Paulo 1-0 in the estádio Olímpico.

In a rain-soaked Porto Alegre, Perea struck early after getting a slight touch from Marcel’s cross. Perea though was a metre offside when the ball was played in but referee Alicio Pena Júnior let the goal stand.

Celso Roth’s team are now 11 points in front of São Paulo and it’s difficult to see the current champions coming back from this latest set back.

São Paulo also dropped out of the Libertadores slots. Their place in the top four was taken by a resurgent Botafogo who scrambled a 1-0 win away at Sport Recife.

Cruzeiro did their part to stay in touch with Grêmio after a 2-1 win over Vitória in the Mineirão. Strikes from Charles and Guilherme put Cruzeiro in the driving seat. Ricardinho scored a late goal for Vitória.   

Palmeiras did enough to scrape past a resolute Coritiba in the estádio Palestra Itália. Alex Mineiro increased his tally to 12 for the season.

Despite having the likes of Nilmar, D’Alessandro and Daniel Carvalho in the starting line-up, Internacional were humiliated 4-0 at strugglers Vasco. Inter are now a whopping 18 points behind leaders and bitter rivals Grêmio, and only 5 in front of Náutico who occupy one of the relegation places.  

A 1-0 win for Cuca in his first game in charge at Fluminense was not enough to lift his side out of the bottom four. Dodô came up with the goods against Atlético Mineiro in the estádio Maracanã.   

Relegation is slowly becoming a real possibility for Santos after their 2-2 home draw vs Flamengo. To make matters worse, Santos lost the promising Maikon Leite with a serious knee problem that will keep him out for the rest of the year.

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