Brazil 3-0 South Korea: Leandro Damiao at the double as impressive Selecao cruise into Olympics final

Brazil booked their place in the Olympic final with a comfortable 3-0 win over South Korea courtesy of goals from Romulo and a double from Leandro Damiao at Old Trafford on Tuesday night.

Mano Menezes' side started slowly but found their stride to put an end to South Korea's 18-game unbeaten run, lining up a place in Saturday's final against Mexico, who overcame Japan 3-1 earlier in the day.

Both sides made changes to their quarter-final line-ups as Brazil recalled Alex Sandro for Hulk and South Korea were forced to replace the injured Jung Sung-Ryong and Kim Chang-Soo with Lee Beom-Young and Oh Jae-Seok.

Despite playing 120 minutes in the quarter-final against Team GB, South Korea began the game far stronger than Brazil creating a number of early chances that served as a wake up call to the tournament favourites.

After a gentle opening 10 minutes, a short South Korean corner led to a neat piece of footwork and backpost cross that saw Kim Hyun-Sung rise to seemingly head into an empty net. Only the presence of Ji Dong-Won and an inadvertent block kept the scores level.

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3/1	Brazil are 3/1 with Sportingbet to lose to Mexico in the Olympic men's football gold medal match

The Sunderland striker was the lead protagonist in the opening stages, creating another chance for Kim as he clipped a diagonal ball to the backpost. His strike partner rose above the 19-year-old goalkeeper Gabriel and forced the ball back across the box for the onrushing Ji but he was denied by clearance more suited to martial arts than football – averting danger and fortunately avoiding conceding a penalty.