Brazil v Tunisia: Line-ups, stats and preview

Brazil v Tunisia Preview

Brazil will hope to continue on their upward trajectory under Carlo Ancelotti when they round off their 2025 with a friendly against Tunisia.

Ancelotti successfully guided Brazil to the 2026 World Cup finals after taking over from Dorival Jr. in May, his only competitive defeat coming in the final qualifier in Bolivia with their place already secure.

Though a 3-2 defeat to Japan in October raised some concerns, Brazil were impressive in beating Senegal in London on Saturday, sweeping aside a dangerous opponents thanks to goals from Estevao and Casemiro.

The only blemish on the performance was a thigh injury for Gabriel that will keep the Arsenal defender out of the game with Tunisia.

Brazil will hope to retain defensive solidity in his absence, with midfielder Bruno Guimaraes praising Ancelotti for improving the Selecao’s rearguard.

“Since Ancelotti arrived, he fixed for me what was the main issue,” Guimaraes told ESPN Brasil. “We were conceding too many goals. 

“The Brazil national team cannot concede so many goals like we were suffering.  He organised everything. I think we now have much more confidence to play with him. He gave confidence to everyone.

“Brazil, every time you ask anyone, arrives as a favourite [for a World Cup]. The country with the most World Cups will always be one of the favourites. 

“But I think we are on a very good upward path and I hope we can arrive there and win, not only be the favourite.”

Tunisia should provide a strong test for Brazil, the Carthage Eagles having gone through CAF qualification for the World Cup unbeaten, scoring 22 goals without conceding.

Egypt and Morocco are the only teams to prevent Tunisia from scoring in this calendar year.

Their preparation for this game has not exactly been ideal, with eight players of the Tunisia squad not able to play due to visa problems.

Tunisia’s only previous meeting with Brazil came back in 2022, when they suffered a 5-1 defeat.

With Tunisia starting their Africa Cup of Nations campaign next month as they look to win the title for the first time since doing so on home soil in 2004, a more competitive game with a team of Brazil’s standard would boost hopes of them seriously contending in Morocco.

Team news for Brazil v Tunisia

Newcastle United and Manchester United will be hoping Ancelotti freshens up his midfield after Guimaraes and Casemiro each played the entire game against Senegal. They were two of only four players to do so.

If Ancelotti does shuffle his pack, then uncapped defender Luciano Juba could get some minutes, while 20-year-old forward Vitor Roque will also hope to feature for the first time since a March 2023 defeat to Morocco.

Predicted line-ups for Brazil v Tunisia

Brazil: Bento; Franca, Marquinhos, Militao, Sandro; Fabinho, Paqueta; Estevao, Rodrygo; Vinicius, Pedro   

Tunisia: Dahmen; Abdi, Talbihis, Meriah, Valery; Skhiri; Saad, Mejbri, Ghabi, Layouni; Chaouat 

How to watch Brazil v Tunisia: TV and online streams

Brazil v Tunisia kicks off at 7:30pm UK time at the Stade Pierre Mauroy. It will be broadcast on ITV4 and will be available to stream on ITVX.

Stats for Brazil v Tunisia

• Brazil have scored nine goals in their last three games.
• Estevao has scored four goals in his previous three starts for the Selecao.
• Tunisia have won eight of their 12 matches since Sami Trabelsi took over as coach for a second time in February.

Adblock test (Why?)