Tite’s Brazil won their first group stage fixture against Serbia thanks to Richarlison’s second half brace. His second goal is a contender for goal of the tournament. Neymar had to be withdrawn in the second half after picking up an injury. His ankle was swollen and Brazil’s medical team are waiting to see the evolution of the injury.
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Click here to watch the highlights of Brazil v Serbia.
Starting line-up
Tite named his starting XI with heavy attacking profiles. Brazil started with a 4-2-1-3 formation consisting of an attacking trident of Raphinha, Richarlison and Vinicius Jr. The attack was led by Neymar who has a free role. Luqas Paqueta and Casemiro formed the midfield. The defence was led by Thiago Silva, supported by Marquinhos , Danilo and Alex Sandro. Alisson guarded Brazil’s goal post.
Stojkovic fielded his Serbian line-up in a 3-4-2-1 formation. Mitrovic started up front as lone striker and was supported by Milinkovic-Savic and skipper Tadic. Mladenovic, Gudelj, Lukic and Zivkovic formed the four man midfield. Pavlovic, Velijkovic, Milenkovic formed a back three defensive partnership and Vanja Milinkovic-Savic started as the goalkeeper.
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First half : Serbia holds the fort
Brazil had a slight upper hand in possession with 59%, but the Selecao couldn’t generate much goal scoring opportunities. Vinicius and Raphinha had some of the best opportunities to score but they failed to capitalise. Brazil had 4 shots out of which 2 were on target. Serbia had only on shot and 0 shots on target. The first half ended at 0-0 and Brazil had to pull up their socks after seeing a couple of giants losing out to comparatively less stronger side.
Second half : Richarlison brace against Serbia
Both the sides started the second half without any change to their starting XI. Brazil were probing through Serbia’s defence to get a breakthrough. In the 62nd minute, Vinicius Jr took a shot from the box and Serbia goal keeper parried it away. Richarlison was waiting inside the box and tapped it into empty net on rebound. Richarlison scored an acrobatic goal ten minutes later thanks to Vinicius low cross into the box. He set himself with a brilliant first touch and scored a stunner. Jesus replaced Richarlison at the 80th minute after the striker scored a brace against Serbia. His two goals were enough to secure Brazil the win. Neymar picked up an ankle injury and couldn’t continue for the final stages of the game. Brazil won the game 2-0 and secured all 3 points.
