New Delhi: Brazil Senior Men's National Football Team defeated India 4-0 in their first international match on Indian soil. In this historic friendly match played at Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata on Saturday, Estevao, Pedro and Samuel Lino scored goals for Brazil. The Indian team tried to keep the match on par in the initial period, but gradually Brazil took control of the game. Brazil strengthened its position by scoring two goals before half-time and made the match one-sided by scoring two more goals in the second half.
In the 28th minute of the match, Estevao dodged the Indian defense and fired a sharp shot towards the near-post. The ball touched the hand of Indian captain and goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu and went into the net and Brazil got a 1-0 lead. After this, in the 42nd minute, Estevao passed a pass to Pedro in the penalty area, which Pedro converted into a goal, increasing Brazil's lead to 2-0. India could not reduce this gap till half-time. Brazil head coach Carlo Ancelotti made five changes during the break, bringing on Bruno Guimarães, Gabriel Magalhaes, Wanderson, Samuel Leno and Douglas Luiz.
Samuel Leno made an impact as soon as he came on in the second half. In the 58th minute, India lost the ball while trying to advance it from defence. Taking advantage of this, Leno created space on the left and fired a low curling shot into the far corner to put Brazil ahead 3–0. India then got a chance to score when Ryan Williams reached Brazil's penalty box, but his effort was blocked. In the 94th minute of injury time, Leno cut inside from the edge of the box and scored the second goal and increased Brazil's lead to 4-0. With this he ensured a big victory for his team.
This match was historic for many reasons. This was the first international match between the senior men's teams of India and Brazil and Brazil's first senior match on Indian soil. With this match, India became the 92nd different national team to face Brazil. This match was also special due to the ranking results, because Brazil had not faced a lower ranked team in the last 28 years and India had won. At the same time, after the FIFA rankings started in 1993, India had not played a match against a higher ranked team which won Brazil. Before reaching Kolkata, Brazil had drawn one match against Australia by 1-1 and won the other by 4-2. This was Ancelotti's 20th match as coach of Brazil.
Strict security arrangements were also made for the match. Around 2,000 spectators and more than 400 volunteers were deployed at the Salt Lake Stadium, while additional central forces were also deployed. In addition to the existing CCTV, more than 100 temporary cameras were installed. Despite this, a large part of the stadium with a capacity of 85,000 spectators appeared empty. The organization of the match just before Durga Puja, high ticket prices and the absence of Brazilian star player Neymar were considered to be the main reasons behind the low crowd. More than Rs 50 crore were spent on bringing teams from Brazil, Uruguay and Panama, while a chartered flight worth Rs 6 crore was also arranged to bring the Brazilian team from Australia worth Rs 90 crore. Despite this, despite discounts being offered to fans of local clubs to increase ticket sales and offering one free ticket on match days, the stadium was not fully filled.