Brazil stroll past India in Kolkata to win historic friendly

[p]Aiming to establish their superiority early on, Brazil had chances straight away through [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/estevao/pSdnUEdI/"]Estevao[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/vinicius-junior/CbwQ4Mws/"]Vinicius Junior[/a], with the former shooting just wide before the latter’s effort was comfortably saved by [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/singh-sandhu-gurpreet/n7iZRCmo/"]Gurpreet Singh Sandhu[/a].[/p][p]The goalkeeper had to be alert again to stop Vinicius from a narrow angle midway through the first half, while [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/pedro-morisco/K6da5X1o/"]Pedro[/a] also tried his luck from range but struck over. [/p][p][b]Approaching the half-hour mark, Brazil finally got the goal they were threatening, as [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/matheuzinho/W0PRq2hP/"]Matheuzinho[/a] picked out Estevao, who found the inside of the post from the edge of the box.[/b][/p][p][b]Pedro then headed onto the woodwork before the Selecao scored a second before half-time. Estevao was involved again as he fed through Pedro, and he squeezed the ball under Sandhu’s body and into the net.[/b][/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/india/A1UUGpep/"]India[/a]’s number one made a superb save from Vinicius to preserve his nation’s two-goal deficit heading into the second half, tipping his strike around the post.[/p][image alt="Match stats" id="a28ff23a-0655-4a19-afb7-d608f8efd4fa" credit-line="Flashscore" guid="9ff2b52d-6547-4dbf-851c-5347c4a99eee" original-width="2160" original-height="2700" /][p]Brazil made five changes at the break, which offered India a chance to settle into the game, and they managed to work [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/pedro/OnKwxa8P/"]Pedro Morisco[/a] twice in the space of a couple of minutes. [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/williams-ryan/rykSJSUh/"]Ryan Williams[/a] produced the hosts’ first shot on target from outside the area, but the second forced a decent save from [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/singh-manvir/dWzanp7n/"]Manvir Singh[/a] closer to goal.[/p][p][b]However, the Selecao gained control of the match again and went three goals up before an hour was played. India failed to play out from the back, and Pedro quickly fed through Samuel Lino, who curled beautifully into the bottom corner.[/b][/p][p]India were determined to at least get on the scoresheet before the final whistle, and they almost found a famous goal against the five-time FIFA World Cup winners when Williams curled towards the bottom corner, only for the ball to be cleared off the line.[/p][p]He then fired wide with a difficult opportunity on the volley, but the Blue Tigers were not disgracing themselves at least in attacking areas.[/p][p][b]After a hydration break due to the conditions, there was time for Lino to net his second and Brazil’s fourth deep into stoppage time, as he cut inside and struck past substitute goalkeeper [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/prabhsukhan-singh/ATXc0Svg/"]Prabhsukhan Singh Gill[/a].[/b][/p][p]As a result, the Selecao record an eighth win in 11 matches (D2, L1), with their only defeat coming against [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/norway/8rP6JO0H/"]Norway[/a] in the World Cup. Victories are hard to come by for India, but they will have been grateful to test themselves against the highest-ranked nation they have ever faced in Brazil (sixth).[/p][p][b]Flashscore Man of the Match: [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/lino-samuel/vTPgNn01/"]Samuel Lino[/a] ([a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/brazil/I9l9aqLq/"]Brazil[/a])[/b][/p][p][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/soccer/brazil-I9l9aqLq/india-A1UUGpep/?mid=rTGQFX7E"]Check out all the match stats with Flashscore.[/a][/b][/p]