Brazil earned a morale-boosting 2-0 victory over Senegal in a friendly match held at London’s Emirates Stadium. Estevão opened the scoring, with Casemiro adding another to seal the win on Saturday.
The Brazilians dominated the match with relentless attacking. Out of their 14 shots, six were on target. Senegal, who had staged a comeback to win 4-2 in Lisbon two years ago, managed just one shot on target from 11 attempts this time.
Brazil and Senegal first met in October 2019, which ended in a 1-1 draw. In June 2023, Brazil suffered a defeat against Senegal—making this win a revenge victory for Carlo Ancelotti’s side. Before this match, Brazil had also lost to Morocco and Cameroon in previous encounters against African nations.
Brazil were unlucky early in the match when Matheus Cunha’s shot hit the post in the 4th minute. His header hit the crossbar in the 17th minute. In between, a long-range effort from Vinícius Jr. was saved by Senegalese goalkeeper Édouard Mendy.
Brazil broke the deadlock in the 28th minute. A through ball from Casemiro deflected off a defender and fell to 18-year-old Estevão, who powered a left-footed shot into the net.
The lead was doubled in the 35th minute. A pinpoint free-kick from Rodrygo found Casemiro unmarked in the box. The experienced midfielder controlled the ball before calmly beating Mendy.
Last month, after the World Cup qualifiers, Brazil played two friendly matches—winning 5-0 against South Korea but then losing 3-2 to Japan. As coach, Carlo Ancelotti now has four wins out of seven matches with Brazil.
Brazil will return to action on Tuesday in another friendly against Tunisia.
