Newcastle United star Bruno Guimaraes began his World Cup preparations for Brazil by playing in their win over Panama.
Guimaraes is coming off a bruising season for Newcastle United, which saw him miss 14 games through injury for the first time in his career.
Anthony Gordon’s gone – so name your dream replacement here 👇
The midfielder, however, remains as important as ever for his country. Brazil manager Carlo Ancelotti loves working with Guimaraes, who is expected to start in midfield alongside Casemiro.
Brazil beat Panama 6-2 in one of their World Cup warm-up games in Rio, yet their national media were not overly impressed.
Brazilian press on Bruno Guimaraes vs Panama
Globo Esporte only handed Guimaraes a 5/10 rating, writing: “He improved towards the end of the first half, but started with passing errors, such as when he tried to find Luiz Henrique making a run. He committed the foul that led to Panama’s goal.
“He failed to control the ball after a good long pass into the box from Alex Sandro. He attempted a shot from outside the area, but it went too high. A good pass inside the area led to a dangerous shot from Raphinha. Another perfectly placed ball at the end of the first half, this one a lob to Raphinha.”
It’s been a tough year but name YOUR player of the season and share why 👇
Feel free to name anyone not pictured!
UOL columnist Walter Casagrande Jr, meanwhile, noted that he was worried how Brazil’s central midfield options will fare against better teams.
Clearly, he will need to up his game if he’s to stand any hope of lifting the World Cup later this summer.
Newcastle fans, of course, will not have any doubts as to the level of his quality. Guimaraes is one of the best players in Newcastle history, and has constantly proven himself on the highest of levels.
Bruno Guimaraes stats for Brazil vs Panama
In his 45 minutes on the pitch, Guimaraes completed 20 of his 24 passes (83%).
The Newcastle star also created one chance, made one tackle and three ball recoveries.
It looked like a typically all-action display from a player who can do it all when he’s clad in black and white.
The sheer weight of the pressure of playing for Brazil must be taken into account, too. There are few countries who place such a high demand on their national team, particularly when they are on a World Cup drought.
It has been 24 years since the most famous country in World Cup history lifted the top prize in the game. Therefore, it’s not hard to imagine the Brazilian press being rather scathing about some of their players unless things are going particularly well.
Brazil head to the United States to play Egypt next. From there, they will play Morocco, Haiti and Scotland in a group they should be winning.
Receive a digest of our best Newcastle content each week direct to your mailbox
