Paraguayan Romero's hat trick puts him among top 10 Corinthians scorers

Rio de Janeiro : Paraguayan forward Angel Romero scored three of the goals for Corinthians in their 4-1 victory over Vasco da Gama and with 37 tallies, he now finds himself among the top 10 scorers for the Brazilian football club so far in this century.

Romero, the big star in the match played on Sunday in Brasilia's Mane Garrincha stadium in front of 33,000 fans, helped Corinthians overcome a 0-1 deficit at the end of the first quarter and move up to the seventh place in the Brazilian standings, reports Efe.

The Paraguayan scored the tying goal in the third minute of the second period and sank another one 10 minutes later, notching his third tally in extra time. With six goals to his credit so far this season, Romero now holds the fourth place in the Brazilian league in terms of scoring so far this season.

His 37 goals in 196 matches with Corinthians -- Brazil's most popular football club so far this century -- put Romero in a tie with Deivid, albeit behind Dentinho (55), Peruvian Paolo Guerrero (54) and Gil (53).

But he is out in front of other iconic figures such as world champion Ronaldo, who scored 35 goals in 69 matches with Corinthians between 2009-2011.

"I'm going to take the ball home. It's the first ball I'm taking home in Brazil. In Paraguay, I had gotten some. I think that at Cerro Porteño I had several (three-goal matches). Here in Brazil, it was the first time," the striker said after the game.

The fourth goal for Corinthians in Sunday's match was scored by Jadson on a penalty kick, while Yago Pikachu scored Vasco's lone goal, also on a penalty kick.

Seventh-place Corinthians now has 24 points in the standings, seven behind league leader Flamengo.