Rio De Janeiro, Nov. 2 -- Gremio took a step toward reaching the Copa do Brasil final witha 2-0 home win over Atletico Mineiro in the first leg of their semifinal.
Carlos Vinicius opened the scoring with a long-range strike and Erick Noriega doubled the advantage by sweeping home a first-time effort after Joao Pedro's cross on Sunday.
The hosts were reduced to 10 men in the 95th minute after Gustavo Martins received a second yellow card for a bad challenge on Tomas Cuello.
The decisive second leg will be played at Atletico's Arena MRV in Belo Horizonte next Saturday.
In Sunday's other semifinal first leg, a first-half strike from Mauricio gave Palmeiras a 1-0 home win over Vasco da Gama, according to Xinhua.
The visitors' hopes of an e...