Atlético Paranaense netted a last-gasp winner to claim a 3-2 victory over Portuguesa at the Estádio do Canindé on Saturday.
The visitors took an early lead through Manoel after he took advantage of Portuguesa’s lacklustre defending and pounced on Luiz Alberto’s knock-down from a corner to fire the ball past the goalkeeper.
But the hosts pulled level just four minutes later, also from a corner, as Moisés Moura rose the highest to meet Carlos Corrêa’s set piece with a thumping header.
Portuguesa were awarded a penalty in the 22nd minute when goalscorer Manoel swiped Bruno Moraes’ legs and Gilberto stepped up to convert with aplomb.
Guilherme Dellatorre emerged from the bench to equalise from close range in the second half, after some good work and a cross from Marcelo, before the hosts saw Souza dismissed for a second bookable offence.
Paranaense made their extra man count and poured forward on the counter-attack in the final stages of the game and Elias tried to lob the goalkeeper with an audacious shot from outside the area.
The ball beat the goalkeeper but bounced down off the crossbar, and Léo was on hand to finish in the second minute of injury time.
The result moves Paranaense out of the relegation zone ahead of Sunday’s fixtures, while Portuguesa remain second from bottom.
