Chelsea winger Estevao Willian came within inches of marking his return to Brazil’s starting XI with a goal during a 1-1 draw against Australia.
The 19-year-old was handed his first Brazil start since last November by Carlo Ancelotti and thought he had opened the scoring shortly before half-time.
Estevao fired into the bottom corner, only for VAR to rule the goal out because of a foul by Bruno Guimaraes earlier in the move.
Chelsea’s official match report confirmed the winger remained on the pitch until the final 15 minutes as Brazil were forced to settle for a draw.
Estevao gets important Brazil minutes
Australia took the lead after the break through Nestory Irankunda before Rayan equalised deep into stoppage time.
For Estevao, the most important Chelsea takeaway may be the significant minutes he received.
The teenager has recently addressed concerns over his limited Premier League playing time under Xabi Alonso, having found starts difficult to come by during the opening weeks of the season.
His international call-up therefore offers another opportunity to build rhythm and strengthen his case for a bigger role when he returns to Stamford Bridge.
Our Chelsea international break tracker shows Brazil face Australia again on Tuesday before completing their international schedule against India.
Another strong performance would give Alonso further reason to consider increasing Estevao’s involvement after the break.
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