Botafogo beat Vitoria to return to Brazilian Serie A summit
►► Jefferson Savarino struck a second-half winner as Botafogo moved to the top of Brazil’s Serie A championship on Thursday with a 1-0 away victory over Vitoria.
Rio De Janeiro | The visitors broke the deadlock in the 62nd minute when Danilo Neves’ long-range effort was parried away by goalkeeper Lucas Arcanjo only for Savarino to fire in the rebound.
Botafogo withstood a tense final 20 minutes to secure their third straight league victory.
Artur Jorge’s men now have 33 points from 16 games and are ahead of second-placed Palmeiras because of their higher number of goals scored. Vitoria ranks 15th in the 20-team standings with 15 points so far.
In other Brazilian Serie A matches on Thursday, Palmeiras won 3-1 at Atletico Goianiense, Fluminense drew 1-1 at Criciuma, Fortaleza won 2-1 at Flamengo, and Atletico Mineiro clinched a 2-1 home win over Sao Paulo. ■
Xinhua
