Ronaldo shows old pace to score in Corinthians win

Ronaldo showed a burst of his old pace to score the second goal for Corinthians in a 2-0 win over Sao Paulo on Sunday.

The former AC Milan, Inter Milan, Barcelona and Real Madrid striker outpaced his marker over 30 metres as he chased Cristian's through ball before clipping his shot past Sao Paulo Bosco in the 58th minute.

It was the sixth goal of the 32-year-old's comeback following last year's knee injury, the previous ones all having been scored from inside the penalty area.

Douglas had opened the scoring three minutes before Ronaldo's goal.

Corinthians completed a 4-1 aggregate win in their Paulista championship semi-final to earn a place against Santos in the two-leg final. Santos beat Vanderlei Luxemburgo's Palmeiras 2-1 on Saturday, winning 4-2 on aggregate, in a match marred by an ugly brawl near the end.

The Paulista is the largest of the regional championships which kick off the marathon Brazilian season. The tournaments, one for each of Brazil's 27 states, each have their own formats and are completely detached from the Brazilian championship which starts in May.

Former world club champions Internacional scored seven times in the first half on the way to beating Caxias 8-1 to clinch the Rio Grande do Sul championship, another of the bigger tournaments. Magrao and Nilmar scored twice each while Taison, Alvaro and Argentine pair Pablo Guinazu and Andres D'Alessandro shared the others.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Monday, Reuters