Match report
A hard-fought affair at the Lusail Stadium on Thursday night ultimately culminated in Brazil kicking their pursuit of World Cup glory into gear with a victory, over a game Serbia outfit.
The star-studded Selecao have of course headed into the Qatar showpiece boasting the title of favourites, eyeing a record sixth triumph on the biggest stage of them all.
In turn, after fellow South American heavyweights Argentina fell to a shock opening day defeat at the hands of Saudi Arabia, Tite’s troops were no doubt wary of a similar slip up of their own.
After an opening 45 minutes which saw Serbia stand firm to rebuff a talent-laden Brazilian frontline, though, the talent on display for the Selecao, when all was said and done, simply proved too much.
Richarlison, for this part, proved the star of the show, notching both goals en route to an eventual 2-0 result.
The Tottenham Hotspur star’s first arrived just beyond the hour mark, after some fine work on the part of teammates Neymar and Vinicus Jr.
His 2nd, though, was all of Richarlison’s own making, as a wonderful first touch and even better volleyed finish saw the former Everton man bag an early contender for Goal of the Tournament:
Brazil, in turn, have taken an early lead atop the Group G table, clear of 2nd-placed Switzerland by way of goal difference.
One major source of concern, though, was forthcoming on the personnel front, upon talisman Neymar being forced to limp out of proceedings with a nasty-looking ankle injury.
Player ratings
Brazil
- Alisson - 6
- Danilo - 6
- Marquinhos - 6.5
- Thiago Silva - 7
- Alex Sandro - 6.5
- Casemiro - 8
- Paqueta - 7
- Raphinha - 6.5
- Neymar - 6
- Vinicius Jr - 7.5
- Richarlison - 9
Serbia
- V. Milinkovic-Savic - 6.5
- Milenkovic - 6.5
- Veljkovic - 5.5
- Pavlovic - 6
- Gudelj - 4.5
- S. Milinkovic-Savic - 5.5
- Lukic - 5.5
- Zivkovic - 5
- Mladenovic - 5
- Tadic - 6
- Mitrovic - 5
:quality(70)/s3.amazonaws.com/arc-authors/xlmedia/d6ef9264-396f-45e7-b4b1-627d5535badb.png)
