Corinthians end 4-game winless run

Defending champions Corinthians broke a four-game winless streak with a 1-0 home victory over relegation-threatened Parana Clube in a Brazilian Serie A clash on Saturday.

Former Bayer Leverkusen and Napoli center-back Henrique struck in the 36th minute with a header after a Jadson corner at Arena Corinthians, reports Xinhua news agency.

The visitors were reduced to 10 men with 15 minutes remaining when Leandro Vilela was shown a second yellow card for a foul.

The result saw Corinthians rise to eighth in the 20-team standings with 29 points from 21 matches while Parana remained last with 15 points.

The Sao Paulo outfit will be sweating on the fitness of goalkeeper Cassio ahead of their Copa Libertadores round of 16 second-leg match against Chile's Colo-Colo on Wednesday.

The 31-year-old needed to be substituted in the 36th minute after suffering an apparent hip injury.

In other fixtures on Saturday, Santos won 2-0 at home to Bahia, Atletico Paranaense beat Gremio 2-1 in Curitiba, hosts Botafogo beat Sport 2-0 and Cruzeiro won 2-0 at home to Fluminense.

--IANS

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