Flamengo Overwhelm America Mineiro To Keep Title Hopes Flickering

Rio De Janeiro: Everton Soares scored one goal and set up another as Flamengo rose to second in Brazil's Serie A championship with a 3-0 away victory America Mineiro.

Everton opened the scoring by heading into the bottom-left corner after an Ayrton Lucas cross at Estadio Parque do Sabia in Uberlandia, reports Xinhua.

The visitors doubled their lead through Pedro Santos, who combined with Bruno Henrique on the counterattack before coolly slotting his shot into the bottom right corner.

Everton Ribeiro made it 3-0 five minutes from time as he latched onto Everton Soares' pass to fire in from close range.

Flamengo are now equal on points with Palmeiras but have an inferior goal difference with three matchdays remaining.

In Rio de Janeiro, defender Messias scored in the 90th minute to earn Santos a 1-1 draw at Botafogo. The result extended Botafogo's winless run to eight matches although they remain third in the 20-team standings, just a point behind Palmeiras and Flamengo.

In other fixtures on Sunday, Atletico Mineiro won 3-0 at home to Gremio, Cuiaba drew 0-0 at Sao Paulo, Internacional won 1-0 at home to Bragantino, and Palmeiras drew 2-2 at Fortaleza.