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Corinthians beat local side Nacional 3-0 in Manaus to advance to the next round of the Copa do Brasil on Wednesday night but not before paying a beautiful tribute to Ayrton Senna, the brilliant Formula 1 champion who died 20 years ago today in an accident at Imola.
The Corinthians players walked onto the field at the new Arena Amazonia holding replicas of the yellow helmet Senna made famous. They donned the unusual headwear for the national anthem and the tribute to one of the club’s most famous fans seemed to inspire them.
Corinthians opened the scoring after just six minutes when they took advantage of a foul on Ralf midway into their opponent’s half. Jadson crossed the ball into the box and Cleber rose to power the ball home.
In 22 minutes they doubled their lead thanks to Peruvian striker Paolo Guerrero. Nacional goalkeeper Jairo could only parry a long range shot from midfielder Bruno Henrique and Guerrero was on hand to hit home the rebound.
The third came in the second half and it was Romarinho who did the damage. He replaced Luciano 12 minutes into the second period and just moments later he saw his long range shot hit the net.
“We have been working on dead ball situations for a while,” centre half Cleber said of his strike. “I was happy to get a goal. We were practically playing at home. I can only offer a round of applause to the fans.”
The match was the biggest test event yet to be played in Manaus, a World Cup venue that will hold four games in June. With local football not hugely strong many people in the region support teams from elsewhere and many Corinthians fans turned out to see their heroes.
The 3-0 scoreline eliminates the need for a return match and Corinthians now go through to their third round to meet the winner of the América-MG vs. Bahia game.
Under Copa do Brasil rules the second leg is cancelled if the away team wins by two goals or more. The rule is designed to avoid costly and pointless second legs.
NACIONAL 0-3 CORINTHIANS
Copa do Brasil, 2nd round
Teams
Nacional: Jairo; Amaral, Índio, Rodrigão, and Jefferson Recife; Denis, Negretti, Eder (Carlinhos Bala); Chapinha (Luciano), Fabiano and Léo Paraíba.
Corinthians: Cássio, Fagner, Cleber, Gil and Uendel; Ralf, Bruno Henrique, Petros (Guilherme) and Jadson (Zé Paulo); Luciano (Romarinho) and Guerrero.
Goals
Corinthians: Cleber, Guerrero and Romarinho
Yellow Cards
Nacional: Denis
Corinthians: Petros and Fagner
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Categoria(s): Departamento Social