Sao Paulo still ahead

Another game playing without its main players, and another game without a win for Sao Paulo. In the end, though, the team is still three points clear at the top of the Brazilian Serie A, thanks to a 1-1 draw away at Botafogo and a combination of other results that saw Parana and Santos climb to second place in the standings. Playing with reserves due to this Wednesday's clash with Internacional in the first leg of the Copa Libertadores final, Sao Paulo fell behind early in the game but managed to come back in the second half to tie Botafogo. Inter almost closed the gap to Sao Paulo to one single point, but despite building a first half 1-0 lead over Santos could not hold the pressure from the locals and ended up losing 2-1.

Parana had another strong outing and defeated Vasco, also by a 2-1 count, tying Santos with 27 points. Inter and Cruzeiro are next with 26, after the team from Belo Horizonte drew 3-3 at home to Santa Cruz, in one of the most exciting games of the round. The result put an end to Santa's four-game winning streak. Palmeiras also had its four-game winning streak snapped thanks to an away draw, playing scoreless football at Fortaleza.

Another streak was broken by Corinthians, which defeated Atletico Paranaense 2-1 to win for the first time in eight matches. The result still left the team within the relegation zone though, with one less point than Fortaleza. Brazilian Cup champions Flamengo had better luck, defeating Goias at home by 1-0 to climb just above the cut. In a very tight race for continental qualification, Figueirense tied Sao Caetano 1-1, with Gremio defeating Juventude 1-0 and Ponte Preta recovering from previous performances by delivering a 3-0 pounding of Fluminense.

Only 5 points separate the second team in the standings from the eigth, with another 5 points between the eigth and the first team in the relegation zone, Botafogo. With this very level field, no team is safe and guaranteed in Serie A next year, and most clubs could still fall into relegation zone after stringing a series of bad results in a row.