Rogerio Ceni plays his 1000th game for São Paulo (Vipcomm)

Good day at the office for São Paulo and Rogerio Ceni. Not only did they beat Atlético Mineiro 2-1 but they also moved to the top of the table and celebrated a remarkable milestone: Rogerio Ceni’s 1000th game for the club.

Say cheese (Vipcomm)

With the motivation to end the day top of the league and with over 60,000 fans behind them (the largest attendance so far in the Serie A this year), Adilson Batista’s team finally came good at home. Prior to yesterday’s win, the team had drawn two (Palmeiras and Atlético PR) and lost one (against Fluminense) of their last three home games. They’ll be happy to have put that record straight. As well as doing that, they sit at the top of the table overnight and have some of their best players coming back from injury (Luis Fabiano is expected to be back soon), suspension and international duty. Things are starting to look pretty good for São Paulo.

A quiet afternoon for Rogerio Ceni (Vipcomm)

Things couldn’t be more different for Atlético Mineiro who now slip into the relegation zone after this loss. Lucas and Dagoberto both scored good goals for São Paulo either side of Rever’s headed goal for Atlético. Apart from picking the ball out of the net, Rogerio Ceni had a quiet afternoon. Not much he could have done to stop the goal either. See match highlights below.

So, 1000 games for Rogerio Ceni. How many players in the world can say that I wonder? He also recently celebrated his 100th goal for São Paulo. Pretty impressive for a goalkeeper even though I personally think its crazy for goalkeepers to be taking free kicks and penalties in the first place. He hardly ever misses a game for São Paulo. He is their captain, penalty taker, free kick taker, club icon.

He’s played 17 times for Brazil but has always been behind the likes of Marcos, Dida and Julio César in the pecking order. Perhaps he hasn’t got the recognition he deserves for having never played in Europe. Few South American’s spend their whole career in South America and even fewer spend their whole career at one club. Nuff respect for that. Well done Rogerio Ceni, you are a modern-day footballing legend.

Tributes to Rogerio Ceni included air balloons (Vipcomm)

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