BRAZIL made it to the Copa America Final after beating Peru at the Olympic Stadium in Rio de Janeiro.
The Selecao advanced thanks to Lucas Paqueta’s winner, which wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for Neymar’s incredible assist.
Relive all the exciting action below:
THAT’S ALL FROM RIO!
A brilliant assist by Neymar led Brazil to their second consecutive Copa America Final after a 1-0 victory over Peru at the Olympic Stadium in Rio de Janeiro.
The Paris Saint-Germain superstar dribbled past three defenders down the left before setting up Lucas Paqueta, who scored the winner for the second time in a row after his heroics against Paraguay in the quarter-finals.
Tite’s men dominated in the first half as they missed some unbelievable chances to score more goals.
It all started just after eight minutes when Paqueta delivered a beautiful through ball and found Richarlison inside the penalty area.
The Everton star dribbled past Pedro Gallese but found himself at a tight angle and thus passed the ball back to Neymar, who shot it wide.
Gallese enjoyed a brilliant first half that saw him making an unbelievable triple save on 19 minutes.
The Blanquirroja captain denied a long-range shot by Casemiro as well as two efforts from Neymar as well as Richarlison from close distance.
But the Orlando City shot-stopper couldn’t maintain a clean sheet as Neymar dribbled past Alexander Callens, Christian Ramos AND Aldo Corzo before setting up Paqueta in the penalty area just 10 minutes before half-time.
Peru came back stronger in the second half when manager Ricardo Gareca introduced Raziel Garcia and Marcos Lopez.
Gianluca Lapadula recorded the Blanquirroja’s first shot on target with a powerful left-footed effort that forced a difficult save from Ederson after 50 minutes.
Peru’s biggest chance, though, occurred on 82 minutes when Callens got a header from a free-kick and almost hit Ederson’s bottom left corner.
Brazil are now set to compete in the final this Sunday at the historic Maracana Stadium against the winner of the other semi-final encounter between Argentina and Colombia.
The two nations face off in the early hours of Wednesday and the loser will take on Peru in the third-place play-off on Saturday.
Thank you for following the action with us, have a lovely night!
GETTY IMAGES STATS
Brazil dominated 56 per cent of possession throughout the semi-final encounter.
The Selecao recorded a total of 15 shots, with a whopping eight of them being on target.
Peru registered seven shots, but only two of them were on target and they all occurred during the second half.
Brazil will compete in the final on Sunday and will face the winner of the other semi-final between Argentina and Colombia – Peru will face the loser of that encounter in the third-place play-off
FT: BRAZIL 1-0 PERU
Brazil made it to the Copa America Final for the second time in a row after beating Peru at the Olympic Stadium in Rio.
The Selecao made it through thanks to Lucas Paqueta’s winner after 35 minutes.
Tite’s men broke the deadlock when Neymar dribbled past three Peru defenders – Alexander Callens, Christian Ramos AND Aldo Corzo – before passing back to Paqueta, who found the back of the net with a fine finish.
Brazil dominated in the first half as they missed some unbelievable chances to score more goals.
Paqueta delivered a beautiful through ball and found Richarlison inside the penalty area on eight minutes
The Everton star dribbled past a brilliant Pedro Gallese but found himself at a tight angle and thus passed the ball back to Neymar, who shot it wide.
Then Gallese made a triple save to deny a long-range shot from Casemiro as well as two efforts from Neymar as well as Richarlison from close distance after 19 minutes.
Peru came back stronger in the second half when manager Ricardo Gareca introduced Raziel Garcia and Marcos Lopez.
Gianluca Lapadula recorded the Blanquirroja’s first shot on target with a powerful left-footed effort that forced a difficult save from Ederson after 50 minutes.
Peru’s biggest chance, though, occurred after 82 minutes when Alexander Callens got a header from a free-kick and almost hit Ederson’s bottom left corner
GETTY IMAGES
PEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!
THAT’S FULL-TIME IN RIO!!!!!!
BRAZIL 1-0 PERU
90+3 Peru’s attack comes to an end after the referee claims Lapadula elbows Militao.
Very soft decision as the Brazilian seem to be slightly overreacting…
BRAZIL 1-0 PERU
90+2 SUBSTITUTION
Brazil manager Tite seems to be making a necessary change as Paqueta is hurting.
The midfielder is replaced by Luiz
BRAZIL 1-0 PERU
90 Five more minutes of added time to go until full-time.
Paqueta is still on the ground after the rough tackle by Lopez
BRAZIL 1-0 PERU
90 YELLOW CARD
Peru ace Lopez gets booked for a dangerous tackle on Paqueta, who’s probably trying to save as much time as possible on the ground
BRAZIL 1-0 PERU
89 SUBSTITUTION
Peru manager Careva makes one more change as Tavara replaces Tapia
BRAZIL 1-0 PERU
88 YELLOW CARD
Vinicius becomes the first Brazilian player to be booked for a late challenge on Lora
BRAZIL 1-0 PERU
88 Brazil are dominating possession and tempo in the last few minutes of the match.
Neymar has been stunning as he gets a lot of the ball and earns plenty of free-kicks.
Peru are struggling to create any attacks
BRAZIL 1-0 PERU
85 SUBSTITUTION
Brazil manager Tite makes a triple change for the last five minutes of the match.
Vinicius comes on for Richarlison, Fabinho replaces Fred and Militao takes Lodi’s place
BRAZIL 1-0 PERU
82 WHAT A CHANCE!
Peru come extremely close to an equaliser, Brazil are quite lucky!
A free-kick is whipped in from the left and Callens gets a header after a poor exit by Ederson but the ball just misses the Manchester City star’s bottom left corner
BRAZIL 1-0 PERU
81 SUBSTITUTION
Another change for Peru as Ormeno replaces Cueva for the last few minutes
BRAZIL 1-0 PERU
80 Brazil star Neymar hasn’t been able to give his team that extra edge so far in the second half.
But it is thanks to the PSG superstar that the Selecao are ahead
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BRAZIL 1-0 PERU
78 As time goes by Brazil’s lead is becoming increasingly fragile.
The Selecao need to remain concentrated as literally anything can happen on the lottery we call a penalty shoot-out
BRAZIL 1-0 PERU
75 SUBSTITUTION
Peru manager Gareca makes another switch as Lora replaces Corzo
BRAZIL 1-0 PERU
75 Just a quick reminder, if Peru equalise then the game will go straight to penalties.
Only the final gets extra-time if the two teams are tied after full-time
BRAZIL 1-0 PERU
73 Brazil are still quite comfortable on the pitch but Peru have drastically improved in the second half.
The Selecao are still the favourites to go through, but it could easily be taken away from them if they’re not careful
BRAZIL 1-0 PERU
71 PENALTY SHOUT
Brazil star Richarlison gets a lovely ball by Neymar and goes down inside the area following a push by Gorzo.
However, the referee waives play on and VAR aren’t intervening
BRAZIL 1-0 PERU
70 SUBSTITUTION
Brazil manager Tite makes his first change as Ribeiro replaces Everton.
An Everton comes in for another Everton, and none of them play for the Toffees
BRAZIL 1-0 PERU
70 Peru ace Santamaria gets lucky there as he avoids a blatant yellow card.
The defender takes down Neymar with a late challenge and doesn’t get booked even though the referee halts the game…
BRAZIL 1-0 PERU
67 Check out some of the best highlights of the first half.
That includes Neymar’s brilliant assist, Paqueta’s opener and Gallese’s triple save:
BRAZIL 1-0 PERU
65 CHANCE
Brazil show their presence with a shot from Neymar inside the area that goes wide!
BRAZIL 1-0 PERU
64 Richarlison goes down inside Peru’s area following achallenge with Tapia.
But the referee has none of it!
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
