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Senegal Teranga Lions hold Brazil in International friendly

Senegal Teranga Lions hold Brazil in International friendly

Brazil drew 1-1 with Senegal in a friendly in Singapore as their winless run stretched to three games, the longest since coach Tite took over in 2016.

It was a special occasion for Neymar, who became just the seventh man to win 100 caps for Brazil, but he was unable to match the achievement with a win against a stubborn Senegal side.

Liverpool’s Roberto Firmino opened the scoring for Brazil after eight minutes when he ran on to a pass from Manchester City’s Gabriel Jesus and chipped the ball past goalkeeper Alfred Gomis from close range.


Senegal levelled with a penalty by Bristol City’s Famara Diedhiou on the stroke of half-time after Marquinhos brought down Firmino’s Liverpool team-mate Sadio Mane.

Both sides had chances to net a winner and Senegal will rue missing an opportunity to beat the five-time world champions.

Africa’s highest-ranked team matched a full-strength Brazil throughout, and Mane almost grabbed a winner when he hit the post with five minutes left.

The draw comes three months after Tite led Brazil to the Copa America title at home and follows last month’s 2-2 draw with Colombia and 1-0 defeat to Peru.

‘We’re still finding a way of playing African teams’

Read on for a round-up of the reaction from Singapore…

Brazil coach Tite: “We also had difficulties in the 1-0 victory against Cameroon in November. African teams want contact, they are compact and they are strong in the air. We are still finding the best way to play against African teams.”

Senegal head coach Aliou Cisse: “It is an international friendly game and, in the first 10 minutes, the players did not follow my instructions. But, after that, we managed to execute our game plan and got back into the game. Overall, it is just a friendly game and I think the team played very well, so I am very proud of them. Hopefully, this team will have a bright future ahead.”

Brazil defender Thiago Silva: “If I said this doesn’t bother us, I would be lying. In the last three matches we could not play our best. Today we had the best opportunities, but we failed in the details, in the last passes to score.”

Brazil defender Dani Alves: “I am not trying to find excuses, we could have done better, but it is a trip that wears us out, we need to win to have tranquility in the preparations for World Cup qualifiers next year.”

Senegal defender Kalidou Koulibaly: “Brazil are a good team, nobody questions that, but they were up against a very strong Senegal team tonight. We played very well and recovered from conceding an early goal. So, for us, securing the draw is a good result against a team like Brazil.”

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