Brazil Names Formidable Squad For Nigeria Friendly

The Brazilian Football Confederation has named a strong and star studded squad that will face the Super Eagles of Nigeria in the international friendly scheduled for October 13 in Singapore.

Brazil coach, Tite, invited all of his best players except for the injured Liverpool FC goalkeeper, Alisson Becker, who has been out since the first game of the Premier League season.

A total of 22 players have been invited with the inclusion of Paris-Saint-Germain star player Neymar and former Barcelona defender Dani Alves.

The Seleção are hoping to get in shape for the South American 2022 World Cup qualifiers while the Eagles will be using the friendly as a build up for the preparation for the 2021 AFCON qualifiers.

Tite said the game against the West Africans would help them prepare for their forthcoming qualifiers and will also help in determining his future team.

He also gave reasons for recalling some players to the squad.

“I seek in my professional life to look at different sides of situations for everyone to win. Reconciling all factors in this win-win is not impossible. I saw Gabriel Barbosa’s performances and knew how proud he would be to be in the Brazilian team. Now is the preparation period for the World Cup and America’s Cup. To form this final team, I have to a give a chance to lot of players,” said Tite.

Goalkeeper: Ederson (Manchester City), Weverton (PalmeirasBrasil), Santos ( Athletico-PR Brasil) Defenders, Daniel Alves (Sao Paulo), Danilo ( Juventus), Alex Sandro (Juventus), Renan Lodi (Atletico de Madrid), Thiago Silva (PSG), Marquinhos (PSG), Eder Militao (Real Madrid), Rodrigo Caio (Flamengo).

Midfielders:  Casemiro (Real Madrid), Arthur Melo (Barcelona), Fabinho (Liverpool), Henrique (Gremio), Philippe Coutinho (Bayern Munich), Lucas Paqueta (Milan).

Forwards: Everton (Gremio), Firmino (Liverpool), Gabriel Barbosa (Flamengo), Richarlison (Everton), Neymar Jr (PSG), Gabriel Jesus (Manchester City).

The last time the two sides met in a friendly game was in 2003 which ended 3-0 in favour of the South Americans.