Balotelli secures 2:2 draw against Brazil

22/03/2013 no comments »
Balotelli secures 2:2 draw against Brazil

Italy came back from two goals down and secured a 2:2 draw against Brazil in an entertaining friendly in Geneva.

Brazil missed the first victory under new manager Luiz Felipe Scolari and gave away a 2:0 lead against the four time World Champion Italy. Scolari fielded a strong line-up with Neymar (Santos), Oscar (Chelsea), Dani Alves (Barcelona) and Dante (Bayern Munich). Italy started with Balotelli (AC Milan) and Oswaldo (A.S. Roma) up front and with Pirlo (Juventus) in the midfield.

Italy started much better into the match and came close after a Oswaldo header. However, Fred (Fluminense) took advantage of a bad Barzagli (Juventus) clearance and scored the Brazil lead from close range. Italy created numerous other chance through Pirlo and Balotelli, but failed to score the equalizer. Brazil, on the other side, did it better and scored the 2:0 after a Neymar counter-attack. Neymar passed to Oscar who just had to slip the ball past Buffon.

Italy manager Prandelli changed the formation in the half-time and Italy came back in a great attacking spirit. De Rossi scored the 1:2 after a corner in the 54th minute. Alves missed the ball on the post and De Rossi stuck a leg out and diverted the ball into the corner. Itlay much better now and Balotelli scored the equalizer only 3 minutes later with a brilliant curl ball into the top corner. Balotelli at his best! Both teams pushed for a winner, but the entertaining game finished in a 2:2 draw between the two powerhouses.

Line-up:

Italy: Buffon – Maggio, Bonucci, Barzagli, De Sciglio (74., Antonelli) – De Rossi (80., Diamanti), Pirlo (45., Cerci), Montolivo, Giaccherini (67., Poli) – Balotelli (84., Gilardino), Osvaldo (45., El Shaarawy)
Brazil: Julio Cesar – Dani Alves, Dante, David Luiz, Filipe Luis (77., Marcelo) – Fernando, Hernanes, Oscar (61., Kaka), Hulk (85., Jean), Fred (68., Diego Costa) – Neymar


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