Only one game into the Confederations Cup, Brazil are already talking about a possible matchup with Spain.
A day after the Spaniards enjoyed an easy victory over Uruguay, the Brazilian players couldn’t avoid talking about the World Cup champions.
Brazil and Spain first need to make sure they advance to the second round, but Real Madrid left back Marcelo said it would be a “great match” if the teams end up playing each other in the World Cup warm-up competition.
luiz Gustavo, who helped Bayern Munich eliminate Barcelona in the Champions league earlier this year, even tried to offer some tips on how to play Spain. Brazil, which hasn’t faced Spain in nearly 14 years, opened with a convincing 3-1 win over Japan on Saturday. Their next match is against Mexico, then it closes Group A against Italy. “We are not worried,” Marcelo said. “We haven’t played against them in a long time, but if we have to play them, it won’t be a problem. We have to be prepared to play everybody and it won’t be different if it’s against them.”
Spain is in Group B, so the teams can meet either in a semifinal or in a final if they advance past the group stage of the eight-nation tournament among continental champions. Spain defeated Uruguay 2-1 on Sunday.
“It’s not like Spain has already reached the final and is just waiting for us, the tournament has just started,” Marcelo said. “We still have to play against Mexico and Italy. But if we do play them, I’m sure that it could be a great match.”
Spain will play Tahiti on Thursday, then closes the group against Nigeria on Sunday.
The last time Brazil and Spain met was in 1999 in a friendly in Spain that ended in a scoreless draw. In eight matches between the countries’ senior squads, Brazil have won four times and Spain two. The teams drew twice. “We are talking about two national teams with a lot of quality,” luiz Gustavo said. “But to reach our goal of making it to the final we need to get past all these national teams, not only Spain.”