Eighty-ninth minute at the Maracana
Joaquin Freitas swung the cross in and Bruno Henrique headed it into the top left corner. Flamengo 2, Corinthians 1, with a minute of normal time left and a stadium that had spent the previous ten minutes bracing for a draw.
It was that kind of finish. Flamengo had controlled most of the evening without ever making the second half safe, and Corinthians had punished them for it.
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Paqueta opened it, Corinthians answered
The breakthrough came three minutes after the restart. A corner dropped to Lucas Paqueta on the edge of the six-yard area and he clipped it left-footed into the top right corner. Simple enough on the replay, but it was the first clean sight of goal either side had produced.
Corinthians got level on 78 minutes and they earned it. Kaio Cesar worked the ball to the left side of the box and Gui Negao stabbed it home from close range with his right foot. Corinthians had been on the ball more in that spell than at any point in the match, and for eleven minutes the Maracana went quiet.
Then Freitas found Bruno Henrique.
What it does to the table
Flamengo move to 57 points from 27 matches. Seventeen wins, six draws, four defeats. That is one loss every seven games across a Brazilian season that gives nobody an easy Sunday, and it is built on exactly this kind of result rather than on big scorelines.
Corinthians stay on 32 from the same 27 games, with eight wins, eight draws and eleven defeats. Their record tells a familiar story for this squad: capable of matching anyone for an hour, short of the players who decide the last twenty minutes. They went to the Maracana, got themselves level away from home against a side 25 points better off, and left with nothing.
Bruno Henrique has spent years turning up in this stadium at exactly this hour of the match, which will not be much consolation in Sao Paulo.
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