Rodri at the double as Spain draw with Brazil in friendly

Madrid, March 27 (IANS) Rodri scored two penalties as Spain and Brazil drew an entertaining game 3-3 in the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.

Spain impressed in the first half, but allowed Brazil back into the game due to some poor defending, as the rivals upped their performance after the break.

Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal was the star of the first half as the 16-year-old led a rapid and exciting Spain attack that also contained Nico Williams, Dani Olmo and Alvaro Morata, reports Xinhua.

With Rodri controlling central midfield, Spain had the perfect launchpad to open up the game, with both Yamal and Nico hugging the wings and Olmo at times dropping deep to pull defenders out of position.

Yamal missed the first chance when he mishit a shot after Marc Cucurella’s cross from the left, but then won a penalty after 10 minutes when he went down after a slight contact from Joao Gomes.

Rodri made no mistake on the penalty, and dedicated the goal to his grandfather, who passed away on Monday.

With Brazil struggling to win possession, Spain’s two wingers both had chances, but first Yamal and then Nico poked wide after dribbling into the area.

Olmo doubled Spain’s lead with a lovely goal in the 36th minute, taking a pass from Yamal, turning inside two defenders and curling a left-foot shot past Bento in the Brazil goal.

The Brazilians had done very little but a rare error from Spain keeper Unai Simon gifted Rodrygo a goal as he passed straight to the forward, who calmly chipped the ball into the back of the net to make it 2-1.

The first half ended with Bento blocking Rodri’s piledriver and the second started with the Spain midfielder seeing a shot deflected wide, before Endrick, who came on at halftime for Brazil, made it 2-2 with a volley that took a slight deflection as Spain failed to deal with a corner.

It was the perfect presentation for the 17-year-old, who will join Real Madrid in the summer, and Brazil had the upper hand for the first 20 minutes of the second half as Spain struggled to control a revitalized rival.

Simon atoned for his earlier mistake when he blocked Rodrygo’s shot after a mazy run from the forward, before the game evened up as both sides seemed to ease up.

Rodri scored his second penalty of the night in the 87th minute after Lucas Beraldo was ruled to have brought down Dani Carvajal, but deep into injury time, Carvajal was also penalized for a foul on Galeno.

Lucas Paqueta, who had been denied by Simon moments earlier, was able to send the keeper the wrong way from the spot to make it 3-3.

–IANS

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