World Cup 2018, Serbia 0-2 Brazil: 3 player battles that defined the game

#2 Neymar vs Antonio Rukavina

The duo canceled out each other on a few instances

Brazil's poster boy Neymar was involved in the heart of almost everything that they tried to conjure on the night and it was so often down to Serbia right-back Antonio Rukavina to keep him quiet down that left flank, where he has proved to be devastating in the past.

The 34-year-old veteran was named in the starting line-up ahead of Branislav Ivanovic for this crunch game by manager Mladen Krstajic and it was hard not to see why soon after the game kicked-off.

Neymar was consistently available to receive the ball down the flanks for Brazil and was involved almost every time they looked dangerous while going forward.

Rukavina was equal to the task on most occasions and stepped up effectively to prevent Neymar from grabbing a goal on the night.

However, Serbia could not hold on for too long and Rukavina, along with his teammates, had no answer to Neymar's sublime delivery from a corner in the 68th minute that paved the way for Thiago Silva's goal.