Absolutely fabulous: Luís Fabiano gatecrashes São Paulo's Fantastic Four to provide reminder of his quality

Bad news for fans of title races going right to the wire: it now seems unlikely that São Paulo will manage to overthrow the heavyweights of Cruzeiro before the Campeonato Brasileirão season ends. Going into the midweek round, the Tricolor trail by four points having played a game more than their rivals. Stranger things have happened, but rarely to a side so battle-hardened as this Cruzeiro outfit.

And yet, as thoughts turn to end-of-year lists and prizes, there is an argument to be made that São Paulo are some kind of people’s champions. Led by the ‘Quartero Fantástico’ – the Fantastic Four of Kaká, Alexandre Pato, Alan Kardec and Paulo Henrique Ganso – São Paulo embarking on a run of 7 victories in 8 games to climb above Internacional, Corinthians and Fluminense.

Yet after the Cruzeiro win came a frustrating stutter: just one point salvaged from four games. The chasing pack closed in; one of the runners in the two-horse race looked to have limped out of contention. One man, though, had other ideas. Luís Fabiano has stepped up to the plate in grand style in recent weeks, netting four times in five starts to put São Paulo back within striking distance once more.

Read the rest of this piece on O Fabuloso's mini-revival on the WhoScored site.