By Robbie Blakeley, Senior Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – A brace from Hernane gave Flamengo a 2-1 victory over Vitória last night at the Maracanã Stadium, where despite constant rain, the Rubro-Negro put in a solid performance to climb to twelfth in the table. Determined to bounce back from Sunday’s humiliation against Corinthians, Flamengo started the game brightly.
The result ended a run of four games without a win and there was no doubt as to the man of the match. “I’m ready, whenever I’m called on to play. If we [Flamengo] can put together three or four wins we can get close to the top four,” striker Hernane said.
Hernane opened the scoring on 22 minutes, latching onto Elias’ through ball and deftly chipping over goalkeeper Wilson.
Fla doubled their lead just before the half-time whistle, Hernane heading home from a corner. The second-half passed without much incident. Juan scored an excellent volley in stoppage time but it was not enough to stage a heroic comeback.
Fluminense twice ceded the lead to draw 2-2 away to Atlético-MG. Wágner fired Flu into the lead before a Ronaldinho free-kick leveled the score in first half injury-time. Atlético had the better of the second half but were shocked by a Rhayner goal twenty minutes from time. Nevertheless, the Flu striker was sent off just minutes later for a second bookable offense.
That swung the pendulum back in Atlético’s favor again and Ronaldinho delivered a crushing blow to the Carioca club. Another free-kick, the same result, less than ten minutes before the final whistle gave both sides a share of the spoils.
Read more (in Portuguese).
* The Rio Times Daily Updates feature is offered to help keep you up-to-date with important news as it happens.