The second quarterfinal game for today will be one of the most awaited games of the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Neymar’s Brazil will be seen playing against Romelu Lukaku at the Kazan Arena. Both teams have had an impressive season in Russia so far.  However, Brazil has not been really tested under pressure. Whereas team Belgium has been a dark horse since the start of the tournament. However, Brazil has remained unbeaten since last 16 games. Ditto with Belgium for the last 22 games.

Out of the four times, the two teams came head-to-head, Brazil has only lost one match. Ahead of the crucial tie, Brazil manager Tite said, “I've already talked about Neymar and I've been very specific about what happened. You should look at the videos. All you have to do is look at the images. "What makes me happy is to have him playing at his best. It's not just with the ball, it's not just dribbling. There are actions, there are transitions, defensive transitions and if you look, you see how much he has contributed." He also confirmed that Marcelo will be back for the game. With this, Brazil will be looking forward to keeping up their winning streak against Belgium. Now let’s talk about the head-to-head encounters of the two teams.

Brazil v Belgium, 2002

This was the last time that the two teams met each other at the Wing Stadium, Kobe. In presence of 40,440 attendees at the FIFA World Cup, Rivaldo and Ronaldo scored one goal each. Whereas, Belgium remained goalless in the match and thus lost the game by 2-0.

Belgium v Brazil, 1988

Now, this was an international friendly match between the two teams, which was held at Bosuilstadion, Antwerp. Brazil captain, Geovani scored a couple of goals in the match. Belgium’ on the other hand could manage to score only one goal which came from Leo Clijsters. Thus, Brazil won the international friendly match by 2-1.

Brazil v Belgium, 1965

Once again in a friendly tie, Brazil dominated Belgium at Maracana, Rio de Janeiro. Pele scored three goals whereas, Flavio Minuano and Rinaldo scored one each. Belgium, on the other hand, could not score a single goal and lost the match by 5-0.

Belgium v Brazil 1963

This was the only time when Belgium won the match against Brazil at an international friendly in Brussels. Now, this game was dominated by Belgium with James Stockman scoring three goals and Paul Van Himst getting one. The own goal also helped Belgium add one more goal to their tally. Whereas, Brazil’s Quarentinha scored one goal and lost the match by 5-1.

From the above statics, it’s quite clear that Brazil has always had an upper hand over Belgium. However, looking at the current form of the team one cannot rule out the chances of a twist in the tale. The match between Belgium and Brazil will begin at 11.30 PM IST.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 06, 2018 05:10 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).