Atlético Mineiro was thrashed 4-0 at home by Palmeiras, so there are no more undefeated teams in the Brazilian championship. With one player less from the half-hour mark due to the red card of Hulk, the team led by Gabriel Milito was the last to know defeat this season and is now six points behind league leader Botafogo.
In this way, Internacional maintains its mark as the last team to win the Brazilian championship without losing a single match. That record was achieved in 1979, when they collected 16 wins, 7 draws and no losses.
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The format of the tournament was different back then, with 80 participants divided, in a preliminary stage, into eight groups of ten each. In each instance, the worst teams were eliminated, but in turn the strongest teams from Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo were added, which generated controversy.
The larger São Paulo clubs wanted to enter from the third phase, just like the champion and runner-up of the previous edition (Guaraní and Palmeiras, respectively), and not from the second. This request was not answered, so Corinthians, Portuguesa, Santos and São Paulo did not participate in the 1979 championship.
Beyond this, no one takes away the merit of Internacional for having been the winner of the tournament undefeated. Led by the legend Falcão, later also an idol at Roma, the Porto Alegre institution won their group in the first, second and third phase of the tournament.
In the semifinals, they eliminated Palmeiras 4-3 on aggregate after the home and away matches. And in the final, they faced Vasco da Gama, led by the star Roberto Dinamite: there was a 2-0 away win at the Maracanã and another 2-1 victory at the Beira-Rio to lift the title.
