Casemiro, Fred and Antony's Brazil have danced their way into the World Cup quarter-finals in scintillating Samba style with a 4-1 win over South Korea.
Of the Manchester United trio, only Casemiro played any minutes as he completed the full 90 while Fred and Antony sat on the bench. They can have little complaints, however, as those players who started the game put in an incredible opening 45 minutes of vintage Brazil brilliance.
The game was only seven minutes old when the tone was set and Vinicius Junior cooly dispatched a curling effort past the goalkeeper. A few moments later and the lead was doubled when Neymar nonchalantly rolled in a penalty on his return to the side after injury. He would go over to injured United left-back Alex Telles in his celebration, with the Sevilla loanee being ruled out of the tournament due to a knee problem.
READ MORE: Ten Hag has key decisions to make
West Ham's Lucas Paqueta got in on the act with a fiercely struck strike for the third before Richarlison started and finished perhaps the goal of the tournament so far. The Tottenham striker dribbled the ball on his head outside the box before laying it off and continuing his run to be in the perfect place to slot Thiago Silva's incisive through ball home. Even Brazil's manager Tite got involved in the dancing to celebrate that one.
Brazil had plenty of chances to extend their lead even further in the second half but Alisson Becker also had to be called upon to make a string of fine saves. He could do nothing about Paik Seung-ho's deflected thunderbolt, though, as South Korea grabbed a late consolation.
The emphatic victory has now set up a quarter-final clash with Croatia on Friday, as they edged past Japan on penalties in Monday's early match after a 1-1 draw. The final last 16 games will be played on Tuesday as Diogo Dalot and Bruno Fernandes' Portgual take on Switzerland and Spain face off against Morroco.
MORE TO READ:
