Náutico on top

Perhaps for the first and only time this season, Náutico (photo) are the leaders of the Campeonato Brasileiro.

But with only two rounds gone and with a handful of teams still preoccupied with the Libertadores or the Copa do Brasil, the championship has a long way to go before it starts to settle down.

São Paulo rested most of their first team players but picked up a deserved point away at Atlético Paranaense. Muricy Ramalho gave starts to a number of his youth side and without a big target man, São Paulo kept the ball on the ground. This was refreshing to see and proved that the Morumbi outfit can play with zeal when released from the coach’s shackles. In particular, Éder Luis and Cazumba caught the eye. But neither are likely to start against Fluminense in the Libertadores midweek.

In Rio de Janeiro, Flu also put out a reserve side. But after Renato Gaúcho’s men missed a penalty, Náutico took control and came away with all three points.

Despite a meeting with Mexico’s America on Wednesday, Emerson Leão surprised everyone by fielding most of his top players. As a result, Santos made easy work of Ipatinga in the Vila Belmiro with Kléber Parreira grabbing a hat-trick.

Elsewhere, two title hopefuls met in the estádio Palestra Itália where Palmeiras overcome Internacional with the help of a very dodgy penalty. Watch the best moments here.

Flamengo managed a point away at Grêmio but only avoided going down by a cricket score thanks to the brilliance of their Keeper, Bruno.

So, after just two games, just Náutico and Cruzeiro have maximum points. But all is now well in Belo Horizonte. Adílson Baptista’s boys may be riding high but there are already signs of unrest amongst some Cruzeiro fans who are not happy with what they’ve been seeing. Under Baptista, Cruzeiro have adopted a more defensive approach but clearly this hasn’t gone down too well with everyone. Going out to Boca Juniors in the Libertadores was hard to swallow and if Cruzeiro fail to beat Santos next weekend, the pressure will really intensify on the coach.

At the bottom, only new boys Ipatinga have yet to get off the board.

See the table and all the weekend’s results here

See all the goals from the Campeonato Brasileiro round 2 here 

 

 

 

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