Ramiro Corrales and Brann climbed up to third in UEFA Cup Group D with a 2-1 victory over 10-man visitors Dinamo Zagreb on Thursday night.

The American went the full route at left back for the Norwegian champs, who can clinch advancement to the knockout phase with a win at Basel on December 5th.

The visitors took the early initiative, with first round hero Marijo Mandžukić the most dangerous man on the field. The attacker went close twice in a three-minute span; he missed just wide on a chest down turnaround and then hit the bar.

Ognjen Vukojević tried his luck from distance in the 17th minute, but Brann netminder Håkon Opdal was equal to the task.

The home side's first good chance came when Thorstein Helstad latched onto a high bouncing long ball from Bjørn Dahl behind a sluggish Dinamo backline, but Georg Hoch raced off his line to make the stop.

Hot transfer topic Luka Modrić put a scare into the Brann Stadion faithful just past the half hour, rambling 40 meters before cutting in for a low drive that soundly struck the post. Soon thereafter, Mandžukić forced Opdal into a good save form the left channel.

Seconds before intermission, the Pride of Bergen grabbed the lead after another long lead pass for Helstad. The striker scooped up Eirik Bakke's through ball and closed in on goal, only to have Gordon Schildenfeld fall onto the back of his legs as he entered the area.

The defender was shown red for a foul as the last man back, and Olafur Örn Bjarnason dutifully stepped up to send Koch the wrong way with the resulting spot kick.

Dinamo would level matters three minutes after the break, however, when a short corner kick worked to perfection. Modrić worked a give-and-go with the restart before sending in a pinpoint cross for Vukojević to slam home with a bullet header.

Brann would have the last laugh, though, when Bakke pounced for the winner with 18 minutes left on the clock. Erik Huseklepp's right flank cross was nodded on by Azar Karadas, and the former Leeds midfielder was in the right place to convert the rebound from Koch's save.

Scoring
SKB - Olafur Örn Bjarnason 1 (PK) 45'
DZ - Ognjen Vukojević 1 (Luka Modrić) 48'
SKB - Eirik Bakke 1 72'

Line-ups
SKB - Håkon Opdal; Bjørn Dahl, Erlend Hanstveit, Olafur Örn Bjarnason, Ramiro Corrales, Erik Huseklepp (Armann Björnsson 90'), Jan Gunnar Solli, Eirik Bakke, Petter Vaagan Moen, Azar Karadas (Cato Guntveit 85'), Thorstein Helstad

DZ - Georg Koch; Hrvoje Čale, Dino Drpić, Gordon Schildenfeld, Etto, Nikola Pokrivač, Sammir (Carlos 46'), Ognjen Vukojević (Did'dy Guela 79'), Luka Modrić, Marijo Mandžukić, Boško Balaban (Josip Tadić 60')