Villa’s Douglas Luiz is Brazil’s unlikely new hero but faces most important game of his life vs Peru

BEFORE last Friday, the senior international career of Aston Villa’s Douglas Luiz was limited to ten minutes off the bench in a low key friendly against South Korea last November.

Suddenly, he looks important to Brazil’s cause as they set out on the road to Qatar in the quest to win their first World Cup in twenty years.

Douglas Luiz, right, was outstanding against Bolivia and became Brazil’s unlikely heroCredit: Reuters

There was a place going in the Brazilian midfield. Arthur, who has just moved from Barcelona to Juventus, was left out of the squad for the opening two rounds of qualifiers.

He had been a fixture in the post-Russia 2018 side. Coach Tite had a look at Allan, now of Everton, but he fell from favour.

Someone new would have to come in for Friday’s game at home to Bolivia in Sao Paulo.

The front runner appeared to be Bruno Guimaraes of Lyon, who captained Brazil’s Under-23 side earlier this year.

But as the week wore on it became clear that Douglas Luiz would get the nod. And during the game it also became clear that he has a vital role to play.

BEATEN JUST ONCE

In Tite’s four year reign as Brazil coach, he has only been beaten once in a competitive game – but it was the big one, the World Cup quarter final against Belgium when the team were ambushed early and crashed out of the competition 2-1.

Tite has spent plenty of time mulling over that defeat. One clear conclusion was that the team were too open down the left flank.

For all his attacking flair, Marcelo has never been a solid defensive full back. And ahead of him, Neymar was not going to do a great deal of defending.

Marcelo has not played for Brazil since. Tite’s idea straight after the World Cup was to go with a different style of full back, creating from deep and holding the defensive line rather than acting as wingers.

The inclusion of another defensive midfielder in Luiz freed up Neymar to play a more expansive roleCredit: Getty Images – Getty

In the coach’s words, he was aiming for Manchester City full backs instead of Liverpool ones.

And so the left back position became a fight between Alex Sandro of Juventus and the former Chelsea veteran Filipe Luis.

But that was not a success – and along came Renan Lodi of Atletico Madrid, emerging as an attacking left back of genuine quality.

There was another advantage in having Renan Lodi charge down the wing. It freed Neymar to move away from the left touchline, allowing him to wander inside and probe for weaknesses.

But if Tite was to return to an attacking left back, he had to balance out his side with the inclusion of an extra defensive midfielder to cover the space left behind – and this is where Douglas Luiz came in.

BATTERED BOLIVIA

And he did a thoroughly proficient job in the 5-0 win over Bolivia. Allowances have to be made, though, for the weakness of the opposition.

Bolivia were ludicrously outgunned, and the game, especially in the first half, was little more than attack against defence.

Just before the first goal in the 15th minute Brazil had exchanged 118 passes against Bolivia’s three.

Luiz now faces the game of his life against PeruCredit: Getty – Pool

Douglas Luiz protected the space behind Lodi – three of the five goals came from breaks down the left – and kept the team ticking over with crisp passing.

But other matches – indeed all the other 17 rounds of the qualification campaign – will be harder.

Starting with Tuesday’s visit to Peru. In all the games in the first two rounds, Peru against Brazil is the only meeting between teams who both qualified for Russia 2018.

Peruvian morale is high after a creditable 2-2 draw away to Paraguay on Thursday – the other four away sides in the opening round all lost.

Assuming that Brazil field the same team, then Douglas Luiz is in for the most important 90 minutes of his life in Lima.

Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk