Douglas Costa secures Brazil recall for Japan and England friendlies

Douglas Costa has secured a recall to the Brazil squad for friendlies against Japan and England in November, while Alex Sandro has been selected ahead of Filipe Luis.

Costa, on loan at Juventus from Bayern Munich, was left out of the Selecao set-up for their final four World Cup qualifiers by Tite but has been granted a chance to stake a claim for a spot at Russia 2018.

The winger scored his first goal for Juve in the surprise 2-1 loss at home to Lazio last weekend and the Brazil boss has been impressed with his recent displays.

“We previously selected him at some points when he had problems, and this denied him the chance to perform better,” said Tite.

“His season under [Pep] Guardiola [at Bayern] was better than under [Carlo] Ancelotti. He has now transferred and [Massimiliano] Allegri has seen him play well.

“In the games against Torino and Sporting he has returned to his natural level.”

Costa’s Juve team-mate Alex Sandro appears to have moved ahead of Filipe Luis in the pecking order as Marcelo’s back-up at left-back, while Diego Souza, Giuliano and Taison also return to the fold.

The Selecao face Japan in Lille on November 10 before travelling to London to take on England at Wembley four days later.

Brazil squad: Alisson (Roma), Cassio (Corinthians), Ederson (Manchester City); Alex Sandro (Juventus), Marcelo (Real Madrid), Dani Alves (PSG), Danilo (Manchester City), Jemerson (Monaco), Marquinhos (PSG), Miranda (Inter), Thiago Silva (PSG); Casemiro (Real Madrid), Diego (Flamengo), Fernandinho (Manchester City), Giuliano (Zenit), Paulinho (Barcelona), Philippe Coutinho (Liverpool), Renato Augusto (Beijing Guoan), Willian (Chelsea); Diego Souza (Sport Recife), Dougas Costa (Juventus), Roberto Firmino (Liverpool), Gabriel Jesus (Manchester City), Neymar (PSG), Taison (Shakhtar Donetsk).