Sao Paulo, Brazil – Hernan Barcos scored on each side of halftime to help lead Gremio to a 3-2 win at Vasco da Gama, keeping the club in the top four.
Barcos was on target in the opening five minutes for Gremio, while Vasco was handed the equalizer through an own goal from Alex Teles.
Ramiro restored the lead for the visitors before halftime, and Barcos added his second tally of the game in the 51st to pad the lead.
Vasco pulled to within a goal five minutes from time courtesy of Andre Felipe, but they would get no closer as Gremio claimed its third successive win to remain within four points of leaders Botafogo.
The leaders maintained a one-point gap on second-place Cruzeiro with a 3-1 victory at Portuguesa with goals from Mariano Marques and Elias in the final 18 minutes to break a 1-1 deadlock.
Cruzeiro had little trouble brushing aside Vitoria as five different players found the net for Cruzeiro in a 5-1 thrashing.
Corinthians sits in third place thanks to a 90th-minute penalty kick from Jose Paolo Guerrero, which was the difference in a 1-0 win over Coritiba.
Fluminense claimed a 1-0 victory at Nautico as Samuel netted the lone goal 20 minutes from time, while Jadson squandered a chance to win the game for Sao Paulo as he failed to convert a penalty kick in the 87th minute of a 0-0 draw at Flamengo.
Goias topped Ponte Preta, 1-0, with Walter's 17th-minute goal holding up, 10- man Atletico Mineiro held out for a 0-0 draw with Internacional, Atletico PR scored two goals in the second half for a 2-1 comeback win over Criciuma with Ederson providing the winning goal in the 72nd minute, and Bahia ended in a 0-0 stalemate with Santos.
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