Gremio stay top in Brazil as Flamengo tumble

PORTO ALEGRE, August 4 (Campeonato Brasileiro) - William Magrao and Reinaldo were on target as Gremio defeated Vitoria 2-0 to remain top of the Campeonato Brasileiro after 17 rounds.

Magrao opened the scoring after 17 minutes as Gremio scored with their first chance of the game.

Reinaldo struck a second after 88 minutes as Gremio claimed their 10th win of the campaign.

'Playing well is always good, but we've clinched a very important victory thanks to the effort of all the squad. We didn't allow Vitoria to play,' said Magrao.

Gremio lead the championship on 35 points, two ahead of second-placed Cruzeiro, who came from a goal down to beat Flamengo 2-1 at the Maracana.

Debutant Vandinho put Flamengo ahead 12 minutes into the second half with a header from a corner, but Guilherme equalised 10 minutes later.

Romulo struck a second for Cruzeiro after 70 minutes to earn the Belo Horizonte-based side their 10th victory.

Flamengo ended the match with 10 men after striker Diego Tardelli broke his right arm as coach Caio Junior had already made three substitutions. Tardelli is expected to be out for three weeks.

It was Flamengo's sixth straight loss.

Jorge Valdivia scored twice as Palmeiras climbed to third courtesy of a 2-1 win at bottom club Ipatinga.

Chile international midfielder Valdivia scored after 12 minutes for Palmeiras, who failed to go 2-0 up at half-time as Alex Mineiro missed a penalty.

Valdivia netted again with nine minutes to go, while Adeilson scored a late consolation.

Forward Andre Lima and goalkeeper Rogerio Ceni each scored twice as fourth-placed Sao Paulo beat Vasco da Gama 4-0.

Lima netted twice in the first half, while Ceni added a free-kick strike after 66 minutes and a penalty after 85 to move to 83 career goals.

A hat-trick by Keirrison helped Coritiba move to seventh place after a 3-1 away-win over Santos.

Elsewhere, Botafogo trashed Atletico Paranaense 3-0 as visitors, while Atletico Mineiro saw-off Sport 2-1 at the Mineirao.