Corinthians salvage late draw and stay on top in Brazil

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Published October 05, 2015

SAO PAULO (AP) Rodriguinho scored in the 84th minute to give Corinthians a 2-2 draw Sunday against Ponte Preta to keep the Sao Paulo club five points ahead in Brazil's first division.

Jadson also scored for the league leaders, who have 61 points in 29 matches. Second-place Atletico-MG is on 56, followed by Gremio with 52. Santos and Sao Paulo are 15 points off the pace with Palmeiras 16 behind.

Atletico-MG defeated Coritiba 3-0 on Saturday with goals from Lucas Pratto and Giovanni Augusto. Coritiba's Leonardo Silva scored on own-goal.

In other Saturday results, Internacional beat Sport 2-1 and Sao Paulo downed Atletico--PR 1-0.

In another key match Sunday, Flamengo defeated Joinville 2-0 before 50,000 at Rio's Maracana stadium. Ayrton and Gabriel scored for the Rio club.

Santos picked up a big victory, defeating Rio-based Fluminense 3-1. Lucas Lima, Neto Berda and Marquinhos Gabriel scored the goals.

Also Sunday, Avai and Vasco drew 1-1, Cruzeiro and Gremio played out a scoreless 0-0 draw; Figueirense won 3-2 at Goias and Chapecoense trounced Palmeiras 5-1.

Ricardo Oliveira of Santos, who has been called up to the national team for World Cup qualifiers against Chile and Venezuela, leads the league scorers with 17 league goals. Jadson of Corinthians has 12, Lucas Pratto of Atletico-MG has 11, followed by Alexandre Pato of Sao Paulo with nine.

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