Brazil 1 Uruguay 0: Neymar penalty seals fiery Emirates Stadium victory

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Vaishali Bhardwaj16 November 2018

Neymar delighted the thousands of Brazil fans who cheered his every touch on the ball at the Emirates Stadium after he converted a penalty to hand Tite's side a narrow 1-0 friendly win over Uruguay on Friday night.

The 26-year-old converted what appeared to be a soft spot-kick in the second half of the game, which was the only goal in an overall dull match.

The victory, though narrow, keeps Brazil on track under Tite's leadership ahead of another friendly game against Cameroon on Tuesday while Uruguay will look to pick themselves back up when they travel to take on France next week.

London was chosen to play host to two of world football's most successful nations on what turned out to be a wet and chilly Friday evening in the capital.

Despite the grey skies above north London, the Emirates Stadium was bursting with colour as thousands of Brazil and Uruguay fans descended for the 76th meeting between these two nations.

REUTERS

With Brazil supporters comfortably outnumbering Uruguay fans, unsurprising given the number of Brazilians who live in London, whenever Tite's side surged forward what followed was a crescendo of noise.

That peaked when Neymar thought he had opened the scoring in the 11 minute only for the assistant referee's flag to rule the goal out for offside.

Still, the Paris Saint-Germain forward remained the player who the fans clearly wanted to see on the ball - with his every touch cheered on by the Brazil fans - while Arsenal midfielder, Lucas Torreira's foul on the 26-year-old drew whistles from the crowd.

REUTERS

Brazil dominated the first half, yet there was a collective sigh of relief from the majority inside the Emirates Stadium when Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson Becker tipped over the bar Luis Suarez's shot and then Edinson Cavani's effort right before the break.

Alisson, who has quickly settled into life at Jurgen Klopp's side since joining from Roma in the summer, showed his quality minutes into the second period when he made a crucial stop to keep out Suarez's free-kick.

His counterpart down the other end of the pitch, Martin Campana, was also busy in the second half as he was needed to claim Neymar's low shot with 25 minutes to play.

REUTERS

In truth, the game between these two South American nations failed to live up to expectations but fans did see a goal - although it came in controversial fashion.

After Danilo went down in the penalty area following apparent contact by Diego Laxalt, referee Craig Pawson pointed to the spot.

Action Images via Reuters

Replays showed that Laxalt had made little, if any, contact wth Danilo, but Neymar coolly converted the spot kick to send the Brazil fans wild.

Action Images via Reuters

It proved to be the only goal of the game, but it was one that injected the mostly Brazil-supporting crown with energy on a wet and windy evening in London.

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