PORTO ALEGRE, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Luis Suarez struck one of the early contenders for goal of the season as Gremio cruised to a 3-1 home win over rivals Internacional in Brazil's Serie A championship on Sunday.
The former Barcelona and Liverpool striker opened the scoring in the seventh minute at Arena do Gremio when he ran around a defender before lashing an unstoppable 30-yard drive into the top right corner.
Mathias Villasanti and Joao Bitello added goals on either side of halftime before Johnny Cardoso reduced the deficit by heading home from a cross three minutes from time.
Gremio were forced to play the final 40 minutes with 10 men after Walter Kannemann was shown a second yellow card for a bad challenge.
The result leaves Gremio 10th in the 20-team standings with 11 points from seven outings, four points ahead of 14th-placed Internacional.
In Sunday's only other Brazilian Serie A fixture, Leo Pereira scored in the 94th minute as Flamengo clinched a 1-0 home win over Corinthians. ■
