Cruzeiro edged out 10-man Corinthians 1-0 to leap to the top of the nascent Campeonato Brasileiro table.
All the action was crammed into the last 10 minutes as the visitors had Fabio Santos dismissed seven minutes from the end, and Dagoberto duly dispatched a penalty to seal the the points.
The win took Cruzeiro ahead of Sao Paulo, who suffered their first defeat of the season, 1-0 at home to Goias.
Rodrigo scored the only goal of the game after two minutes and the visitors held on. Gremio and Bahia both won to join the teams they beat, as well as Cruzeiro and Sao Paulo, on seven points.
Gremio were 1-0 winners over Vitoria, with Elano scoring the only goal in the 70th minute.
Meanwhile, Bahia came from behind to beat Botafogo 2-1 thanks to Fernandao's double.
Vitinho put Botafogo ahead in the seventh minute, but Fernandao levelled four minutes before the break, then wrapped up the points with his second in the 68th minute.
Atletico Paranaense came out on top as they and Ponte Preta shared seven goals in a 4-3 thriller.
Twice Ponte Preta took the lead, through Francisco Dos Santos (24) and Williams (46), but both times Atletico equalised thanks to Paulo Baier (36) and Ederson (57).
Everton scored in the 64th minute to put Atletico ahead for the first time and, after William bagged his second to seemingly snatch a point for the hosts, Marcao struck the winner in the closing moments.
Second-half goals from Alisson (70) and Jucimar Abuda (90) gave Vasco da Gama a 2-0 victory over Atletico Mineiro.
Jose Rogerio scored in the 82nd minute to give Nautico Recife a 1-0 win at Flamengo, who had Renato Abreu dismissed four minutes from time.
Criciuma downed Santos 3-1 thanks to goals from Joao Vitor (16), Giancarlo's 57th-minute penalty and Matheus Ferraz (66).
Neilton bagged a last-minute consolation for Santos.
Rafael Moura's 25th-minute effort as cancelled out by Marcelo Canete in the 55th minute as Internacional drew 1-1 at Portuguesa, who had Ferdinando sent off in the 68th minute.
