Brazil advanced to the Copa America semi-finals by beating Chile 1-0 on Friday and will face Peru for a place in the final. Barely entering the field after half-time, OL midfielder Lucas Paqueta gave the victory to the Seleçao with a goal, in the 47th minute of this meeting which took place in Rio de Janeiro.
Less than two minutes later, Brazil lost Gabriel Jesus who was sent off for a foul on Eugenio Mena. The Chileans failed to take advantage of this advantage. A goal by Eduardo Vargas in the 62nd minute was called off for offside after consulting VAR.
“A great test” according to Neymar
During the first half, the best opportunity for Brazil to open the scoring came in the 20th minute when Neymar found Roberto Firmino in a good position, but the Liverpool scorer failed to defeat the Chilean goalkeeper Claudio Bravo.
Brazil star Neymar highlighted the difficulty of securing the win and congratulated his teammates. “We started the match very well, then we scored a goal and then we had to resist Chile who have a very competent team and great quality players,” said Neymar after the match. For the PSG player, “it was a very difficult match and the whole team deserves to be congratulated”.
For Neymar, beating Chile “was a great test, we knew it would be a difficult game but the important thing is that we got the victory and that we managed to go to the semi-finals”. Brazil will meet Peru on Monday in Rio, just like in the final of the competition in 2019, won by 3 goals to 1. Earlier in the day, the Peruvians beat Paraguay (4-3) on penalties, in Goiania.
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