Sao Paulo and Corinthians were forced to settle for a draw in the glamour tie of Round 26, allowing Palmeiras to increase their lead in the championship to five points.

Ronaldo capitalised on some comical defending to put Corinthians ahead in 21 minutes before Washington fixed the result at 1-1 with a cool finish after good work from Hernanes on 67’.

The draw sees Sao Paulo slip adrift from Palmeiras who were able to overcome Atletico-PR 2-1.

Goals from Figueroa and Danilo were enough to secure the win and cancel out Chico’s solitary reply for the visitors.

Goias also took advantage of Sao Paulo’s slip-up and moved into joint-second after overcoming Gremio 2-1.

Felipe scored the winning goal eight minutes from time to complete the turnaround after Souza had put Gremio ahead in the first half.

RELEGATION

Fluminense boosted their chances of avoiding relegation by winning their first game in eight in defeating Avai 3-2.

Alan capped a man of the match performance with a brace and aided his side moving within five points of safety with twelve games to play.

Despite the win, Fluminense remain bottom as nearest rivals Sport were able to defeat Santo Andre 3-1 in the big clash at the bottom of the table.

Fellow strugglers Botafogo were unable to respond as they disappointingly lost 3-1 to Vitoria.

A quickfire double late in the second half, including an impressive strike from Leandro, secured the win and moved Vitoria into seventh place and left Botafogo in the relegation places.

MID-TABLE

Elsewhere, Gilberto’s goal was enough for Gremio to see off the challenge of Barueri and consolidate Gremio’s comfortable mid-table position.

Coritiba distanced themselves from relegation worries by beating Nautico 2-0 whilst Internacional and Flamengo played out a goalless draw.