After working for Internacional, including taking them to runners-up in the Campeonato Brasileiro de 2005, on January 3, 2006, ten years later he came back to manage São Paulo, signing a one-year contract. He was the head coach of São Paulo for three years, winning the Série A three times in a row. His methods and the playing style of his team did not win universal admiration, however. After a poor start in the league and being eliminated from the Libertadores Cup in 2009 to Cruzeiro, his fourth consecutive elimination from the tournament, the board fired him.
