RIO DE JANEIRO, July 29 (Xinhua) -- Paraguay international winger Angel Romero scored a second-half hat-trick as Corinthians came from behind to rout Vasco da Gama 4-1 in Brazil's Serie A championship on Sunday.

Yago Pikachu opened the scoring for the Rio de Janeiro outfit on the stroke of halftime before Romero, playing as a false nine, struck twice in 12 minutes after the break.

Former Brazil international midfielder Jadson converted a 79th-minute penalty after Mateus Vital was brought down by Breno.

Romero then scored his third goal in stoppage time, latching onto an Emerson Sheik through ball before driving a low shot into the bottom corner from the edge of the box.

Meanwhile, Flamengo scored three second-half goals to romp to a 4-1 win over Sport Recife at the Maracana stadium. Lucas Paqueta gave the hosts the lead after Sport's Claudio Winck had cancelled out Rever's opener.

Everton Ribeiro and Fernando Uribe then netted in quick succession to guarantee Flamengo their 10th win of the season as they remained top of the 20-team standings.

In other matches on Sunday, Internacional won 3-0 at home to Botafogo, hosts Palmeiras beat Parana Clube 3-0, Atletico Paranaense defeated Vitoria 4-0 at home and Sao Paulo won 2-0 at Cruzeiro.