Flamengo maintained their eight-point lead at the top of the Brazilian Serie A after a comfortable 4-1 win at home versus Corinthians, with Bruno Henrique being the deciding factor in the result, scoring a hat-trick. His first was slightly lucky, as he initially missed from the penalty spot, only to react quicker than the keeper to slot home the rebound. There was nothing lucky about his next two, though. His second of the day was a display of pace to run through on goal to chip a lovely finish over the oncoming goalkeeper, while his hat-trick goal was slotted home with composure into the bottom corner.
From the front end of the pitch to the back now, as Volpi receives a 10 for his performance between the sticks for São Paulo in a 3-0 victory against Chapecoense, who fired a huge 27 shots on goal. Nine of those strikes were on target, and Volpi saved every single one to frustrate the home side. He also made eight ball recoveries and cleared the ball three times out of the box to take the pressure off his defenders.
Guadalajara created a potentially vital three-point gap between themselves and the Liga MX relegation zone after defeating Toluca 3-1. The best performer in the entire league this week was Pulido, who scored two and assisted the other in that win. He set-up the opening goal with a clever pass into the centre, and scored his first with a rasper into the bottom corner. His second was a bit special, as he sent the defender on his backside inside the box in order to coolly finish from close range. He also won 100% of his tackles and made three ball recoveries.
Datolo was unlucky not to be a winner in Banfield's entertaining 3-3 draw against Union SF on Sunday, as he scored a goal in each half for the hosts. Both goals were very different and displayed the range of threat he possesses, firstly rising above everyone to glance a superb header into the corner before scoring the vital equaliser nine minutes from time with a strike that proved too hot to handle for the opposition goalkeeper. He also won the majority of his duels and 100% of his attempted tackles.
Santos created a six-point gap between themselves in third and Sao Paulo in fourth in Serie A after comfortably defeating Botafogo 4-1. With the home side two goals to one ahead, Soteldo took the game beyond Botafogo by scoring a couple more in the second half, initially by showing excellent composure inside the box to fake a shot before slotting home, then curling a gorgeous finish into the top right corner to the right of the box.
ROUND TO FORGET
Speaking of Botafogo, they were let down by the performances of centre-backs Joel Carli (4.5) and Gabriel (4.8) who, between them, did not even attempt a single tackle in the loss against Santos.
