How it happened
The match turned on a sending-off before half-time. Sport Recife's Ajul was shown a red card in the 45th minute, and Fortaleza took the lead in first-half stoppage time, Tomás Cardona scoring in the 45+3rd minute.
Sport had to play the whole second half with ten men. Fortaleza doubled the lead in the 69th minute through Rodriguinho.
Fortaleza then lost a player of their own. Jailson was sent off in the 80th minute, which left ten against ten for the closing stages. Neither side added to the score, and the visitors won 2-0.
The numbers
The shot count points the other way. Sport Recife had 19 attempts to Fortaleza's nine and won the corners 11 to three, but only two of those shots were on target against four for the visitors. Possession was close, 52% to 48% in Sport's favour.
Expected goals were tight as well: 0.84 for Sport and 0.67 for Fortaleza. Sport created slightly more and still came away with nothing, as the quality of their chances did not match the volume.
Maílton had a match rating of 8 for Fortaleza, with one assist and two key passes in 96 minutes. Goalkeeper João Ricardo also had a rating of 8 after two saves. Cardona, who scored the opener, had a rating of 7.9 and an expected-goals figure of 0.33 from his one goal.
What it means
Fortaleza went into the match fourth on 57 points, with five wins and five draws and no defeats in their previous 10. This result extends that unbeaten run.
Sport Recife started the day eighth on 51 points, having lost five of their last 10 and conceded 15 goals in that spell. They had won their previous league match, but this defeat adds to a difficult recent stretch.
Fortaleza also had the better of the head-to-head record: they have won five of the seven meetings, Sport Recife one, with one draw.