Brasileirão round 29: Neymar's two late penalties hold Flamengo, Palmeiras close to a point

The title race tightened on Thursday night. Flamengo led 2–0 at Santos at half-time, went down to ten men on 79 and drew 2–2 after Neymar, on as a half-time substitute, scored two penalties in six minutes. A few hours later Palmeiras beat Bahia 1–0 and are one point behind with nine rounds left. Round 29, played on Wednesday and Thursday after the international break, brought 29 goals in ten matches, eight of them after the 75th minute, five home wins, one away win and four draws. Jefferson Savarino scored a hat-trick for Fluminense, who are third, and Corinthians lost for the seventh league match in a row.

Wednesday night

RB Bragantino 1–1 Mirassol was eleven against ten from the 28th minute, when João Victor Santana was sent off for Mirassol, and RB Bragantino still could not win it. Eduardo Sasha, from Wallace Yan's pass, scored on 51; André Luis, from Alesson dos Santos Batista, equalised on 70. Bragantino had 71 per cent of the ball, 33 shots, nine on target, and eleven corners to three.

Internacional 2–1 Corinthians began with a goal inside a minute: Vitinho, from Alan Patrick's pass, scored on 1. Alan Patrick, from Bruno Henrique, made it 2–0 on 77, and André, from Vitinho of Corinthians, pulled one back on 80. Corinthians had 72 per cent of the ball, 22 shots and twelve corners; Internacional won with 28 per cent. Corinthians have now lost seven league matches in a row.

Remo 1–1 Grêmio: Walter Kannemann, from Wallace Gomes da Silva Santos's pass, put Grêmio ahead in first-half stoppage time, on 45+3, and David Braga, from Gabriel Taliari, equalised on 88. Remo had 23 shots to seventeen. The point ends a run of five defeats for Remo; Grêmio have not won in five.

Vitória 4–0 Chapecoense in Salvador belonged to two players. Erick scored on 18 and 61, both from Matheuzinho's passes, and Matheuzinho scored on 53, from Matheusinho, and again on 74. Vitória had twenty shots to eleven; Chapecoense stay bottom on eighteen points.

Botafogo 1–2 Vasco da Gama at the Nilton Santos went to the visitors. Alan Lescano, from Bruno Duarte Da Silva's pass, scored on 28, and David, a substitute on 42, made it 2–0 from Facundo Colidio's pass on 50. Alex Telles scored for Botafogo on 60. VAR ruled out a goal at each end, Thiago Mendes's for Vasco on 74 and Tiquinho Soares's for Botafogo on 84, and Botafogo's coach Tite was sent off on 85. Lance reports that he had run onto the pitch to celebrate Tiquinho's goal before it was disallowed, and that he will miss the match at Coritiba, which is on Monday. Vasco da Gama had seventeen shots to eleven and fourteen corners, and have won three in a row.

Cruzeiro 2–0 São Paulo, which kicked off after midnight UTC, was settled by Kaio Jorge, from Matheus Pereira's pass, on 44 and Zé Lucas on 57. Cruzeiro had nine shots on target to São Paulo's three and are fifth.

Thursday night

Santos 2–2 Flamengo at the Vila Belmiro was Flamengo's until the last quarter of an hour. Danilo, from Pedro's pass, scored on 43, and Lucas Paquetá, from Jorge Carrascal, added the second on 45+4. Santos sent on Neymar and Rony at half-time, Neymar in place of Philippe Coutinho. On 79 Jorginho was sent off for handball, and Neymar scored a penalty on 82 and a second on 88. Flamengo had 55 per cent of the ball and six shots on target to Santos's four. Jorginho disputed the penalty afterwards, saying it was a foul on him, Lance reports. Santos are unbeaten in eight league matches.

Atlético Paranaense 2–2 Atlético-MG at the Arena da Baixada had its best moments at the end. Kerwin Vargas, from Gilberto's pass, scored on 8 and Bernard equalised for Atlético-MG on 27. Tomás Pérez, on as a substitute on 67, was sent off on 73 after VAR upgraded his card. Kevin Viveros, the league's top scorer, put Atlético Paranaense ahead on 90+3, his eighteenth of the season, and Lyanco, from Thiago Borbas's pass, equalised on 90+7. Atlético Paranaense had 31 shots to fifteen.

Fluminense 4–0 Coritiba at the Maracanã was Jefferson Savarino's night: he scored on 30 from Hulk's pass, on 49 from Thiago Silva's and on 65 from Kevin Serna's. Luciano Acosta, from Wesley Natã de Freitas Prado, added the fourth on 90+3. Coritiba did not have a shot on target. Lance notes that Savarino was new to the starting line-up; Fluminense move up to third.

Palmeiras 1–0 Bahia was decided early: José Manuel López, from Alexander Barboza, scored on 7. Bahia had 59 per cent of the ball, but Palmeiras had 26 shots, eleven on target, to Bahia's ten and one. The two sides of the title race now have different weeks: the club's fixture list shows Palmeiras playing Fluminense in the Libertadores semi-final at the Maracanã on 14 October.

The table

Flamengo lead Palmeiras by one point, 61 to 60, after both were three apart a round ago; Fluminense are ten points back in third, a point ahead of Atlético Paranaense. At the bottom Chapecoense have eighteen and Remo 24, with Grêmio on 30 and Internacional on 31. Vasco da Gama and Chapecoense have a game in hand, their postponed round 21 match against each other.

#	Team	P	W	D	L	GD	Pts
1	Flamengo	29	18	7	4	+32	61
2	Palmeiras	29	17	9	3	+27	60
3	Fluminense	29	14	9	6	+12	51
4	Atlético Paranaense	29	14	8	7	+11	50
5	Cruzeiro	29	14	6	9	+4	48
6	Bahia	29	12	10	7	+7	46
7	Atlético-MG	29	12	8	9	+5	44
8	Santos	29	11	9	9	+2	42
9	Coritiba	29	10	8	11	−10	38
10	RB Bragantino	29	10	7	12	+1	37
11	São Paulo	29	10	6	13	−1	36
12	Vitória	29	10	6	13	−10	36
13	Botafogo	29	9	8	12	−5	35
14	Vasco da Gama	28	9	7	12	−6	34
15	Mirassol	29	8	9	12	−9	33
16	Corinthians	29	8	8	13	−4	32
17	Internacional	29	7	10	12	−5	31
18	Grêmio	29	7	9	13	−8	30
19	Remo	29	5	9	15	−15	24
20	Chapecoense	28	3	9	16	−28	18

The points race shows how close the top two have been all season: Palmeiras were ahead or level after every matchday until the 25th, Flamengo have led since the 26th, and the gap has been three points or fewer since the 22nd. Fluminense have just passed Atlético Paranaense for third, ten points off the lead.

Numbers to know

• 29 goals in ten matches; eight came after the 75th minute and five in stoppage time.
• Four sendings-off: three players — João Victor Santana, Jorginho and Tomás Pérez — and one coach, Tite.
• Kevin Viveros leads the scorers on eighteen, two ahead of Pedro of Flamengo; Gabriel Barbosa of Santos has thirteen.
• Corinthians have lost seven league matches in a row; Santos are unbeaten in eight.
• Coritiba had eight shots and none on target at the Maracanã; Bragantino had 33 and scored once.

Next up

Round 30 begins on Saturday 10 October with Vasco da Gama v Remo at 21:00 UTC, followed by São Paulo v Vitória at 00:00 UTC on Sunday. Sunday brings Atlético-MG v Santos at 19:00 UTC, three matches at 20:30 — Flamengo v Fluminense, Grêmio v Internacional and Palmeiras v Corinthians — and Bahia v Mirassol at 22:30. On Monday Coritiba play Botafogo at 19:00 UTC and Chapecoense play Atlético Paranaense at 22:30, and RB Bragantino v Cruzeiro closes the round at 00:00 UTC on Tuesday. The full round is on the Brasileirão page.

Sources for the context: Lance, Lance, Lance, Palmeiras.