Scaloni excited by Argentina despite Brazil loss

Caretaker coach Lionel Scaloni was impressed by Argentina’s performance against Brazil, despite slipping to a last-gasp 1-0 defeat.

Miranda, who was denied an earlier by Nicolas Otamendi’s block, settled a low-key Superclasico de las Americas clash in the 93rd minute – the first time Argentina, who were without Lionel Messi for Tuesday’s clash in Saudi Arabia, have conceded under Scaloni.

Giovani Lo Celso and Paulo Dybala came close to scoring for Argentina but Scaloni, who picked a young, relatively inexperienced side at international level, insisted the all-round performance of the team bodes well for the future.

“Doing what we did today we are going to be able to take on the whole world,” Scaloni told a news conference.

“The result was secondary, but it does not mean it does not hurt to lose like that.

“It is exciting the match that these guys have made, they have made an incredible effort.

“They played as an equal to a team that has a lot more than us. I am tremendously excited and happy for the work that the boys did.”

Brazil defender Filipe Luis felt Tite’s side deserved to come out on top, with Miranda nodding in Neymar’s corner in additional time.

“The team felt tired in the second half but I think we dominated our opponents, we played well and we got the goal at the end,” the Atletico Madrid full-back said, according to ESPN.

103 – #Neymar had the most touches (103), chances created (5), fouls won (8) and dribbles completed (7) in #Brazil‘s win 1-0 against #Argentina. Magic. pic.twitter.com/gh1GQLRPMY

— OptaJavier (@OptaJavier) October 16, 2018

“Obviously our team is better than Argentina, we have maintained the same squad for years and they are in the process of renewal.

“But you don’t notice that so much in a clasico, what you do notice is their fight. But I think we deserved to win.”