RIO DE JANEIRO, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) — Fluminense boosted their hopes of securing a place in the next edition of the Copa Libertadores with a 3-1 victory at Ceara in Brazil’s Serie A championship on Monday.
John Kennedy opened the scoring for the visitors just before halftime with a cool finish after Nene’s deft through ball.
Matheus Martinelli made it 2-0 just before the hour mark with a low first-time strike after Egidio Pereira’s cut-back from the left byline.
Vinicius Souza gave the hosts a glimmer of hope by converting a 78th-minute penalty after he was brought down by Lucas Calegari.
But Samuel Goncalves put the result beyond by spearing a diving header past goalkeeper Richard Costa after a Pereira set piece.
Fluminense are now unbeaten in their past seven matches and occupy fifth place in the 20-team standings, nine points behind leaders Internacional with two matches remaining. Ceara are 12th, 14 points further back.
In Monday’s only other fixture, Bragantino held Sport to a goalless draw in Recife. Enditem
