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FOOTBALL

Switzerland stuns Brazil with 1-0 home victory

Swiss football fans are whooping it up after the “Nati” scored a shock victory on Wednesday over Brazil, five-time winners of the World Cup.

Switzerland stuns Brazil with 1-0 home victory
Brazilian forward Neymar (right) fires a shot in front of Swiss defenders Stephan Lichtsteiner and Philippe Senderos. Photo: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP

An own goal by Brazilian defender Dani Alves three minutes into the second half was enough to give Switzerland a 1-0 win in front of delrious supporters at the St. Jakob-Park stadium in Basel.

The Barcelona star headed the ball into his own net.

The friendly international result ended a streak of 11 undefeated games for Brazil, recent winners of the Confederations Cup.

They were last defeated by England in February at Wembley Stadium, where they lost 2-1.

Brazil were playing their first match since winning the Confederations Cup in June, and a tense opening half saw three players booked in the first 24 minutes, with Switzerland's Philippe Senderos and Valon Behrami and Brazil's Neymar all being shown yellow cards.

The underdog Swiss were aided by Brazil’s missed opportunities as the Brazilian defence were rarely challenged.

The win nevertheless showed the Swiss side’s potential, coming ahead of next year's World Cup in Brazil and 14 months after Switzerland  beat Germany 5-3 in another friendly game on the Basel pitch.

The result came on a busy night for international football with England edging Scotland 3-2 at Wembley, Portugal tying the Netherlands 1-1 at home and Argentina beating Italy 2-1 in Rome.

Among other friendlies Germany drew 3-3 at home against Paraguay, the US beat Bosnia Hercegovina 3-2 in a come-from-behind win and Sweden beat rivals Norway 4-2.  

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RACISM

VIDEO: Spain’s La Liga reviews video of boy racially abusing Vinicius

Spain's La Liga on Monday said it was reviewing a video of a child making racist insults towards Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior during the 2-2 draw with Valencia at the weekend.

VIDEO: Spain's La Liga reviews video of boy racially abusing Vinicius

“We’re in the process of studying and analysing the facts from a legal standpoint to see what we can and should do,” La Liga sources said.

In a video published by a journalist for ESPN Brasil, and picked up by Spanish media, a boy sitting in a woman’s lap can be heard calling Vinicius a “monkey”.

The Brazilian scored twice for Madrid as his team recovered from two goals down at Mestalla on Saturday.

Vinicius raised his fist in a “Black Power” salute after the first of his two goals at a ground where he was racially abused last season. Valencia subsequently banned three people from the stadium for life.

The 23-year-old has become a symbol of the fight against discrimination in Spanish football after suffering racist abuse on many occasions, and he was jeered repeatedly by home supporters on Saturday.

Jude Bellingham was sent off after the final whistle against Valencia for protesting after the referee blew the final whistle right before the England midfielder headed home what he thought was the winning goal.

READ ALSO: Football star Vinicius highlights racist behaviour from Spanish fans

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