Neymar and Ronaldo: just two of the big stars in this year's Brasileiro
The dust has barely settled on the major state championships, but already it's time to focus on
Brazil's national league – the Campeonato Brasileiro.
The 2008 competition was one of the closest for years but this season could be even tighter.
Congratulations to Estudiantes de La Plata, 2009 Copa Libertadores Campeones!!!
The championship had very little affect on the rankings because Estudiantes had already completed
its Argentine Clausura season at the time of our last rankings and it had already received Bonus
Points for their Copa Libertadores success.
Atlético Mineiro go top
Celso Roth's revitalization of Atlético Mineiro continued on Sunday with a 3-0 victory over
Náutico in Belo Horizonte. The win, plus Internacional's 0-0 draw at home to Vitória, was enough
to lift Atlético into pole position on goal difference. Júnior, Diego Tardelli and Márcio
Araújo did the damage.
Atlético Mineiro's Carlos Alberto celebrates against Santos
League leaders Atlético Mineiro had to come from behind to beat Santos 3-2 in the Vila Belmiro.
And with Internacional slipping up away at Flamengo, Celso Roth's team were able to open up a three
point gap at the top.
Neymar scored his first goal in the Brasileiro for Santos on the stroke of half-time.
It's time for a new WCR Top 25 Clubs in the World ranking. This is the first one in three weeks and
if you follow only European clubs, then there is little reason to pay too much attention to this
week's edition because it is primarily the same for those clubs as the final weekly edition was
three weeks ago.
At the fore of the ongoing 27 state championships in Brazil, which have been underway since the end
of January, Corinthians stormed to Sao-Paulo's prestigious tournament by beating
Santos 4-2 on aggregate to extend an unbeaten sprint to 25 matches.
The Campeonato Paulista, considered as one of the leading state contests due to the intense
concentration of formidable clubs, is ideal preparation for the upcoming 2009 Serie A national
championship with the Timão delivering a menacing warning shot to their native rivals as their
resurgence from Serie B motions into top gear.
Barueri stop Atlético Mineiro
Newly promoted Barueri brought leaders Atlético Mineiro back down to earth with a 4-2 home win.
Until Saturday, Celso Roth's team were the only unbeaten side in the top flight. Atlético, though,
remain top on goal difference. See the highlights
Internacional moved to 17 points after a 3-0 win against Coritiba.
Cruziero striker Ze Carlos earned the fastest red card in Brazilian history during a match
against Atletico Mineiro on Sunday when he delivered an elbow to Renan's head just seven seconds
into the match and was sent off after just 12 seconds. Said Ze Carlos:
"I slipped, went to control the ball, turned and my arm hit Renan in the face.
Joint top scorer with 15 goals in the Campeonato Brasileiro (national league, which has 8 rounds
remaining), 16 goals in the Campeonato Mineiro (local State championship), 4 goals in the Copa do
Brasil (Brazilian cup) not a bad tally for Atlético Mineiro's Diego Tardelli. Add to this his
recent call up to Brazil and it's not much of a surprise that the player is being linked with a
possible move to Manchester City (though who isn't these days?
Grêmio trounce Corinthians
Mano Menezes' return to the estádio Olímpico ended in a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Grêmio.
Corinthians were blown away in the first-half, conceding three goals and having Jean sent off for
two yellow cards. Grêmio's tight marking and pacey attacks, meant there was no space or time for
any of Corinthians creative players.
FootBrazil spoke to Diego Tardelli before his call up by Brazil. The Atlético Mineiro ‘bad
boy' is currently amongst the Campeonato Brasileiro leading scorers with 13 to his name. Tardelli
started his career at São Paulo before moving on to Real Betis, São Caetano, PSV, Flamengo and
Atlético Mineiro.
Black and red and joyous (photo: Alexandre Durão)
Flamengo were crowned champions of Brazil for the first time in 17 years last weekend after coming
from 1-0 down to beat Gremio 2-1 in the Maracana stadium. A first half equaliser from David
cancelled out Gremio's opener scored by Roberson, and the scores remained 1-1 through half time and
into the middle of the second half.
photo: Globo.com
With one round left in the second division of Brasileirao, the 3 tickets left for a place in
next year's first division were taken. The clubs promoted are Guarani, Ceara and Atletico- GO. The
promotions happened after Figueirense, the only club with chances left, lost at home, which made
the other results just a detail.
