Philippe Coutinho and his Brazil side were controversially dumped out of the Copa America following a 1-0 loss against Peru, with Raul Ruidiaz scoring the only goal of the game with his hand.
Brazil had an excellent record against the Peruvians, avoiding defeat in each of their last 16 meetings. They only needed a draw against their opposition too, so the late loss will have been all the more difficult to take.
In the 75th minute the stadium erupted, with second half substitute Ruidiaz bundling the ball over the line from close range. Peru were ecstatic, while Coutinho and his teammates were insistent that the goalscorer had used his hand.
The replays showed that he unquestionably did use his arm to push the ball over the line, and Brazil are right to feel hard done by after being knocked out by what many are likening to Diego Maradona’s ‘Hand of God‘ goal – scored for Argentina against England in the 1986 World Cup.
Check out the goal below:
The Hand of God strikes again to send Brazil crashing out of the #CopaAmerica#BRAvPERhttps://t.co/j1hfZpwzyk
— TAB (@tabcomau) June 13, 2016
Coutinho played the full 90 minutes, but was unable to put his stamp on the game. This is the first time in decades that Brazil have failed to make it out of the group stages, and despite the controversial nature of their exit, questions will no doubt be asked of their performance.
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One positive is that Coutinho should now get a lengthy rest ahead of the new season, fully fit and ready to return to Liverpool for the 2016/17 campaign.