SAO PAULO (AP) Former Brazil striker Fred scored in second-half injury time to give Fluminense a 2-1 win at Atletico Paranaense on Sunday, keeping the Rio de Janeiro club close to the Brazilian league lead.
Fred scored with a diving header three minutes into stoppage time at the Arena da Baixada in Curitiba, leaving Fluminense with 27 points, two behind leader Atletico Mineiro, which on Saturday earned a 2-0 victory at Ponte Preta.
It was the sixth win in seven matches for Fluminense, which on Saturday announced it signed former Brazil playmaker Ronaldinho until the end of 2016. Ronaldinho had been playing for Mexican club Queretaro but returned to Brazil saying he wanted to win one of the few trophies he still doesn't have in his successful career.
Gustavo Scarpa opened the scoring for Fluminense in the eighth minute and Sidcley equalized for Atletico in the 66th before Fred netted the winner in injury time for his fifth goal of the competition.
It was the third-straight loss for Atletico Paranaense, which dropped to eighth in the 20-team standings.
Striker Thiago Ribeiro and midfielder Giovanni Augusto scored a goal in each half in Campinas to give Atletico Mineiro its sixth win in a row, and ninth in 13 matches.
''It's always important to win away from home, but we know we still have to improve a lot as the competition goes on,'' Atletico Mineiro coach Levir Culpi said.
Atletico Mineiro, which has outscored its opponents 12-2 in the last six games, won the Copa Libertadores in 2013 and the Brazilian Cup in 2014, but hasn't won the Brazilian league since 1971. Its rival in Belo Horizonte, Cruzeiro, won the last two league titles.
Third-place Corinthians reached 26 points by routing Flamengo 3-0 at the Maracana Stadium thanks to goals by Elias, Uendel and Jadson. Flamengo was without Peru striker Paolo Guerrero and playmaker Emerson, who transferred from Corinthians and could not play because of contract restrictions. Flamengo, Brazil's most popular club, is just two spots out of relegation zone.
Also Sunday, two-time defending champion Cruzeiro edged Goias 1-0 at the Mineirao Stadium, while fifth-place Sao Paulo beat Coritiba 3-1 at the Morumbi Stadium with a pair of goals by striker Alexandre Pato and one by Argentine midfielder Ricardo Centurion.
Internacional defeated last-place Joinville 2-0 in Joinville to end a three-match losing streak, while Palmeiras' four-match winning sequence was halted after it conceded a 90th-minute equalizer in a 2-2 draw at Sport.
On Saturday, fourth-place Gremio defeated second-to-last-place Vasco da Gama 2-0 in Porto Alegre, winning for the sixth time in seven matches and handing the Rio de Janeiro rival its third loss in a row. Santos snapped a four-match losing streak with a 3-0 win over Figueirense at the Vila Belmiro Stadium, but it stayed inside relegation zone.
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