Jorge Henrique put them ahead a minute into the match, and although Everton Kempes levelled for the visitors just before the quarter-hour mark, Paulinho got the winner midway through the second half and America had Nascimento Gilson sent off moments later.

Flamengo kept pace with a 1-0 win away to Cruzeiro.

Deivid de Souza got the crucial goal on the stroke of half-time to move Flamengo on to 30 points from their 14 games, although Corinthians, on 31, have a game in hand.

Vasco da Gama are a further three points back in third after keeping pace with a 2-0 win over Santos.

Andrade Diego Souza got the opener after only two minutes and Anderson Dede's 20th minute goal made sure of the points.

That saw Vasco move above Palmeiras, who were held to a 1-1 draw at Coritiba and finished the game with 10 men.

The hosts grabbed an eighth minute lead through Jeci dos Santos, but Palmeiras levelled after 19 minutes through Marcos Assuncao.

Their efforts to find a winner were dealt a blow in the 76th minute when Thiago Heleno was sent off.

First-half goals from Edson da Silva and Julio Cesar, the second a penalty, gave Figueirense a 2-0 win over Botafogo.

However, Edson blotted his copybook with a second yellow card in the 65th minute, and the sides were levelled up in the dying seconds when the visitors had Matos Maicosuel dismissed for a second bookable offence.

Avai climbed away from the foot of the table with a rare but convincing away win as they beat Ceara 3-0.

William Souza opened the scoring in the 19th minute, but the other two goals came after the 66th minute dismissal of Ceara's Wellington Vicente for a second bookable offence.

Rafael Luiz scored in the 81st minute and Cleverson added a third in the dying seconds.

Leonardo Silva struck at the death to earn Atletico Mineiro a share of the spoils in a 2-2 draw away to Gremio.

Atletico's Andre De Souza had needed just a minute to cancel out Leandro's 50th minute opener for Gremio, but the hosts were back in front on Fabio Rochemback's 79th minute penalty before Silva's late strike.