RIO DE JANEIRO: Brazil reached the Copa America final after a first-half goal from Lucas Paqueta — his second in two games — gave them a 1-0 win over Peru on Monday.
The host nation will play the winner of other semi-final between Argentina and Colombia in the title decider at the Maracana stadium on Saturday.
Brazil have won the Copa America every time they hosted the tournament and in the early part of Monday’s match showed exactly why they are favourites to do so again.
Within the first 20 minutes Peru goalkeeper Pedro Gallese made two point-blank saves in succession from Neymar and Richarlison plus another two blocks when Casemiro tried his luck from further out.
While Brazil were in the ascendancy in the opening period it was a different story in the second half as the introduction of Marcos Lopez and Raziel Garcia at the break shook Peru awake.
Losing finalists in 2019, Peru pushed forward in search of an equaliser with Gianluca Lapadula forcing Ederson into a key block, with the Brazil goalkeeper looking uneasy on a couple of other occasions.
