Perhaps the manager’s toughest selection call was in his forward line; Richarlison started Brazil’s warm-up win against Tunisia as the central forward and keeps his place, with Gabriel Jesus missing out. Two goals for Raphinha in that game is enough to earn him a starting place.
Vinicius Jr also starts, along with Neymar, as Lucas Paqueta partners Casemiro in midfield.
Chelsea’s Thiago Silva captains the side and re-forms his defensive partnership with Marquinhos after a long spell as Paris Saint-Germain team-mates.
Aleksandar Mitrovic, who has endured an injury-hit couple of months at Fulham, is fit to begin the tournament for Serbia.
Dragan Stojkovic picked a 4-3-3 formation for the win over Bahrain last week, but has gone back to a preferred three-at-the-back system.
The Serbia manager has plenty of versatile midfield options with which to play, with both Dusan Tadic and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic starting and capable of operating in a number of roles.
Brazil XI: Alisson; Danilo, Marquinhos, Thiago Silva, Sandro; Casemiro, Paqueta; Raphinha, Neymar, Vinicius; Richarlison.
Serbia XI: Vanja; Veljkovic, Milenkovic, Pavlovic; Zivkovic, Lukic, Gudelj, Mladenovic; S.Milinkovic-Savic, Tadic; Mitrovic.
