RIO DE JANEIRO, Nov. 5 (Xinhua) -- Former Manchester United defender Alex Telles was on target as reigning champions Botafogo cruised to a 3-0 home win over Vasco da Gama in Brazil's Serie A on Wednesday.
Telles opened the scoring on the stroke of halftime when he converted a penalty after Joaquin Correa was brought down by Carlos Cuesta.
The hosts made it 2-0 through Artur Guimaraes, who ran onto Jefferson Savarino's through ball before calmly slotting a shot past goalkeeper Leo Jardim.
David Ricardo completed the rout by heading in from close range 13 minutes from time.
"We followed the game plan to the letter, both offensively and defensively," Botafogo manager Davide Ancelotti told a post-match news conference.
"Our forwards combined well by creating but also defending when they had to. Now we have to work on our consistency because when we play like this we know we are a tough team to beat."
Botafogo remains sixth in the 20-team Brazilian Serie A standings with 51 points while Vasco is ninth, nine points further back.
Elsewhere in Brazil's Serie A on Wednesday, Flamengo drew 2-2 at Sao Paulo, Cruzeiro won 1-0 at Gremio, Atletico Mineiro eased to a 3-0 home win over Bahia, Vitoria prevailed 1-0 at home to Internacional and Juventude won 2-0 at Sport Recife. ■
