Alan Shearer has criticised Gabriel Magalhaes for a 'shaky' and 'slow' performance as Brazil were held to a 1-1 draw by Morocco in their World Cup opener. The Arsenal centre-back, featuring in his first World Cup, was caught out of position for Morocco's opening goal. A superb pass from Brahim Diaz released Ismael Saibari, who chipped the ball over Alisson.
Brazil equalised before half-time through an excellent finish from Vinicius Jr, but Carlo Ancelotti's side struggled to create chances against a well-organised Moroccan team.
'He's looked shaky, Gabriel, today,' Shearer said during the BBC's coverage. 'On two or three occasions the ball has gone out and I thought he could've attacked it and he didn't. He's been slow. Certainly with the goal in the first half, the gap between him and Marquinhos was huge.'
Ancelotti admitted that opening-game nerves affected his players. 'I think we didn't start the game well, the team was a bit worried, we lost a lot of balls, a lot of duels. The first half wasn't good. It improved in the second half, it's a difficult game because Morocco is a good team. A little anxiety, I think so. In the first stage, they would escape the pressure and make dangerous transitions. We could have had more control.'
Former Liverpool and Brazil midfielder Lucas Leiva felt Brazil lacked balance in midfield. 'One point is better than nothing but I think Ancelotti will have a lot of work to do for the next game against Haiti,' he told CBS Sports. 'It should be an easier game for Brazil but I was a little bit worried, especially the first half, with what we saw in the game. Before the game we spoke about balance, Brazil never looked in control in the middle, Casemiro struggled a little bit and that's why he got taken out at half time. Offensively, Brazil never looked dangerous, they didn't create as much as we could've imagined. We were talking about the position of Raphinha, Brazil never had a right winger, which made it difficult. Second half was a little bit better, Danilo coming on at right-back gave them more stability at the back. But overall it wasn't a good performance, the balance of the team wasn't right, the middle never got control of the game and we know how important the midfield is for the team.'
Brazil play Haiti in their next World Cup match on June 20.
