Richarlison netted a double after the break to lead Brazil to a well-earned 2-0 victory against Serbia in their 2022 World Cup opener at the Lusail Stadium on Thursday.
Brazil struggled to create and didn’t manage to threaten the Serbs before the break, as Serbia defended well and didn’t allow the Selecao many spaces to exploit.
However, Tite’s side hit the ground running after the interval, with Raphinha failing to beat Vanja Milinkovic-Savic just a few seconds into the second half.
Alex Sandro unleashed a strike from outside the box but hit the woodwork on the hour mark, with Milinkovic-Savic then denying Vinicius one minute later.
Brazil break the deadlock
Brazil finally managed to break the deadlock in the 62nd minute, as Richarlison pounced on the rebound following a Vinicius strike to open the scoring.
Then, the Real Madrid winger teed up the Tottenham forward, who netted a fantastic bicycle kick to practically put the game to bed with 17 minutes to go.
Brazil could have scored more goals, but Casemiro was unlucky to hit the crossbar and Fred was stopped by Milinkovic-Savic.
With this win, Brazil are now topping Group G along with Switzerland, who beat Cameroon 1-0 earlier on Thursday.
