Brazil vs Spain: Key battles, history and stats

“It’s the final everyone wanted to see,” said Spain’s goalkeeper Iker Casillas after it was confirmed world champions Spain would take on Brazil in the final of the FIFA Confederations Cup.

Though seen by many as meaningless, the Confederations Cup is an excellent way for some big teams to get a hang of things before the World Cup in the same country next year. But this final is more meatier because Brazil — five-time world champions, are meeting Spain — easily the world’s most dominant football team in a long time.

KEY BATTLES

Neymar vs Sergio Ramos: Future Barcelona star (he is yet to play a game for them) will clash against Real Madrid’s defensive mainstay in what will be a preview of a battle which will unfold many times in the foreseeable future. It’ll be interesting to see whether Neymar will continue with his diving antics — something Madridistas blame every Catalan of, and force Ramos into making a few crunching tackles. The Brazil No 10 has three goals and three assists in the Confederations Cup so far, and Spain have conceded just one goal in the tournament with Ramos in the backline. This one’s got to be tasty.

David Luiz vs Fernando Torres: The two must be coming up against each other in Chelsea’s training almost every day — and when players know each other so well, it makes their match-up more exciting. It’s still hard to believe how much Torres has fallen over the last three years, and he hasn’t shown enough glimpses of the fearsome striker that he used to be. He wasn’t picked for the Uruguay match and failed to do much against Italy in the semifinals. Yes, he has five goals to his name — but four of those were against Tahiti and one against Nigeria. This battle is Luiz’s to win.

Fred vs Gerard Pique: Though less glamorous than Neymar vs Ramos, this battle could hold the key to a close match. Brazil have relied on Fred’s unnerving ability to be in the right place at the right time — and against the better teams. He has three goals, a brace against Italy plus a strike against Uruguay and that shows he’s a big game player. However, Pique is not an easy defender to go past. He’s bigger than Fred, stronger and maybe even more confident, given that Spain hardly seem to lose a match. He will also have help from Sergio Busquets, while Fred will need to play off the tricky Oscar. There’s no choosing between these two.

Paulinho vs Andres Iniesta: Paulinho’s emergence in the national team has been phenomenal — he is a box-to-box midfielder, robust in defence and with an eye for goal. Power-wise, he can shunt Iniesta away, but the Barcelona man is a wily customer who needs just half-a-foot to squeeze in a shot. Iniesta’s roving mentality will keep Paulinho at bay and these two will look to cancel out each other at the slight cost of controlling the game. It’s all about discipline and while Iniesta is the better player here, Paulinho could still overshadow him on the night.

HISTORY

In eight matches, Spain have beaten Brazil just once — way back in 1934. But most of these matches came when Spain were known as the perennial underachievers along with the Netherlands — and Brazil were running circles around most teams. Their last fixture, in 1999, finished 0-0. However, don’t expect such a drab encounter this time out. Brazil are unbeaten in their last four competitive matches against Spain — winning three and drawing one.

DID YOU KNOW?

- Brazil have won 11 successive Confederations Cup matches. They have also won the last two editions of the Confederations Cup (2005 and 2009), with this being their third successive final appearance in the tournament.

- Spain are on a run of 29 consecutive matches without defeat in competitive matches — they haven’t lost a match since the 1-0 defeat in the opening group game against Switzerland at World Cup 2010.

- Spain have the best passing accuracy rate in the tournament — 92%. They have made 3052 passes compared to Brazil’s 1783. Brazil’s completion rate is 84.5%.

- Spain have conceded only eight shots on target in their four games in the tournament so far.

- Torres has scored eight goals in Confederations Cup history. Only Cuauhtémoc Blanco (Mexico) and Ronaldinho (Brazil) have scored more (9).

- Fred has scored eight times in 10 appearances for Brazil. Three of these came in his last two matches at the Confederations Cup. Neymar meanwhile, has struck three goals at the Confederations Cup so far and has six goals in his last eight games for Brazil overall.