Brazil v Switzerland team news: Fred in for Neymar

The penultimate game of Matchday 3 features the tournament favourites, who are without the injured Neymar this afternoon.

Kick-off between Brazil and Switzerland is at 16:00 GMT.

Neymar’s place in the Selecao line-up is taken by Fred, which is about as far away from a like-for-like swap as you could imagine.

The Manchester United midfielder’s inclusion will likely see Lucas Paqueta allowed the freedom to push further forward, after the West Ham United man was deployed in a deeper role against Serbia.

Tite’s other change from that Matchday 1 victory sees the similarly injured Danilo replaced by Eder Militao at full-back.

Switzerland make one alteration from the side that defeated Cameroon 1-0.

It’s a surprising one on paper, as Xherdan Shaqiri is replaced by Fabian Rieder.

The suggestions are, however, that Shaqiri is carrying a thigh injury and simply isn’t being risked.

Either team will qualify with a win tonight, while a draw will leave both teams needing only a point from their Matchday 3 games.

Fantasy wise, Richarlison has overtaken Neymar to become Brazil’s most-owned player in the official FIFA game.

Just over one in five managers now owns the Tottenham Hotspur forward.

Alisson and Marquinhos are the other Brazilians with a double-digit ownership, although Vinicius Jnr is not far off at 9.7%.

MATCHDAY 2 LINE-UPS

Brazil XI: Alisson, Militao, Marquinhos, T Silva, Sandro, Fred, Casemiro, Paqueta, Raphinha, Vinicius Jr, Richarlison.

Switzerland XI: Sommer, Widmer, Akanji, Elvedi, Rodriguez, Freuler, Xhaka, Rieder, Sow, Vargas, Embolo.


WATCH EVERY WORLD CUP GAME LIVE IN TALKSPORT’S FAN ZONE!