Liedson is the man for Corinthians (Getty Images)

Corinthians thrashed the league leaders São Paulo 5-0 on Sunday afternoon thanks to three goals from Portugal international striker Liedson. Corinthians have become something of a bogey team for São Paulo and so it proved again on Sunday afternoon. Nobody could have imagined the scoreline before the game though especially as São Paulo had started their league campaign with five straight victories.

In stark contrast to big spending Corinthians, São Paulo have a young team full of promising home-grown players including the likes of Lucas, Bruno Uvini, Luiz Eduardo, Casemiro and Wellington. Their lack of experience was cruely exposed on Sunday though as Corinthians made the most of the sending off of São Paulo midfielder Carlinhos Paraí­ba on 40 minutes. With the result, Corinthians move up to second in the table with 13 points from five games. They have one game in hand over league leaders São Paulo (15 points).

Palmeiras, another team from the city of São Paulo, are in third place with 11 points despite losing to Ceará away from home 2-0. After a lousy start to the season, Internacional finally put their woes behind them and beat Figueirense 4-1. Like Inter, Cruzeiro are another title favourite that have made a poor start to the season. They responded by sacking their idiot coach Cuca (I feel fully justified in calling him that after he elbowed a player in the face and then accused him of diving. See link) and replacing him with English language enthusiast Joel Santana. In Santana’s first game in charge Cruzeiro beat Coritiba 2-1 and moved out of the relegation zone.

Flamengo recorded their second win of the season with an inspired second half performance from Ronaldinho (finally). Santos are near the bottom of the table and have only played four games thanks to their participation in the Copa Libertadores. Botafogo are the surprise package so far and are in fourth place thanks to a 2-1 win over Grêmio. Avaí­ prop up the table with one point from six matches.

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