Corinthians remain two points clear at the top of the Brazilian Campeonato despite a shock 2-1 defeat at basement side America Mineiro. The Belo Horizante club had won just four matches prior to the weekend but they stunned Corinthians with two set-pieces. The first of them came before half-time when striker Fabio Junior converted from the spot, with Corinthians' complaints that the foul was outside the box falling on deaf ears. Corinthians themselves levelled the scores from the spot thanks to defender Chicao but Amaral drove a free-kick past Julio Cesar in the dying stages.
Vasco da Gama were unable to capitalise on the suprising defeat at the summit as they were downed 2-0 by Santos. In a game that marked Paul Henrique Ganso's return from injury, Neymar was the star of the show as he scored one, set up a hatful of chances for team-mates and also provided the assist for Borges to find the net.
Botafogo slipped down to fourth in the table after they were unable to halt Figueirense's remarkable unbeaten run. The Florianopolis side are now unbeaten in 12 matches and made it five wins in a row with a 1-0 win over Botafogo courtesy of Julio Cesar's early goal.
Fluminense were the big winners of the weekend as they beat Internacional 2-1 to move up to third. Rafael Moura and Rafael Sobis both netted for Flu in the first half, with Oscar briefly restoring for the home side. Flamengo are a point behind Fluminense after they cruised to a 5-1 victory over Cruziero, who are now in the relegation places. The game was all square at half-time thanks to goals from Anselmo Ramon and Deivid but Flamengo netted four times after the break. Deivid scored his second to give Flamengo the lead for the first time and Thiago Neves then hit a 15-minute hat-trick to ensure victory.
A 4-3 defeat to Bahia looks to have ended Sao Paulo’s title hopes as they now sit eight points off the pace and without a win in their last nine matches. Tricolor should have ended that unenviable streak as they led Bahia 3-1 with 25 minutes left after goals from Wellington, Lucas and Cicero. However, Souza, Lulinha and Fahel all scored in the second half to make it 3-3 and an own goal from Luiz Eduardo complete the comeback.
Palmeiras are another side who were unable to halt a poor run of form at the weekend as they lost 2-0 at home to Coritiba. Davi and Leonardo scored the goals that inflicted a fourth straight loss on Palmeiras, who are just seven points above the bottom four places.
In the battles in the bottom half of the table, Ceara beat Avai 2-1 thanks to goals from Thiago Humberto and Felipe Azevedo, while Atletico Mineiro boosted their survival hopes with a 2-0 win over Gremio. Finally, Atletico Paranaense came from behind to beat Atletico Goianiense 2-1, with Frederico Nieto scoring both goals for the victors.
