Neymar's Brazil crashed out of the World Cup on Friday, failing to erase the pain of their humiliation on home soil four years ago as Belgium beat them 2-1 to set up a semi-final against France.
The five-time champions came to Russia desperate to make amends for their stunning 7-1 semi-final defeat on home soil to Germany in 2014.
But they were outplayed and out-thought by the fleet-footed European side in Kazan, with Premier League stars Kevin De Bruyne, Romelu Lukaku and Eden Hazard marauding forward at will in the first half before showing impressive resilience in the second.
"These boys deserve to be heroes in Belgium," said Belgium coach Roberto Martinez. "The execution of the tactics was magnificent.
"It is special and we can't let the people of Belgium down. We can pass that down the generations - beating Brazil."
Coming into the match, Martinez acknowledged the gulf in World Cup pedigree between his side, who have never been further than the semi-finals, and their illustrious rivals.
But after a bright start from Tite's team, it was Belgium who looked the more dangerous, scoring through a Fernandinho own goal in the 13th minute and increasing their lead with a superb De Bruyne strike just after the half-hour.
Tite threw on Liverpool forward Roberto Firmino for Willian at half-time and the famous yellow shirts poured forward in increasing desperation, only to find an impenetrable wall at the back.
Comments
Comments are closed.