Brazil head coach Tite was proud of the way his side dug deep to see off Uruguay in a friendly that was anything but.

Arsenal's Emirates Stadium bore witness to a feisty all-South American encounter which ended 1-0 to the Selecao on Friday evening.

Tackles flew in throughout a match that saw eight bookings and a controversially-awarded penalty, which Neymar tucked away after referee Craig Pawson adjudged Diego Laxalt to have fouled Danilo.

"It was a South American derby," said Brazil head coach Tite. "We've got respect for Uruguay. Regardless of it being a friendly, they have, they are, a good team with a high level.

"They played two different systems and they did well in both of them.

"They were filtering the ball through, creating chances and creating options.

"They were finding ways to get the ball through and they've got those dangerous players up front.

"Those really dangerous players and when you think about (Rodrigo) Bentancur, who plays at Juventus, the quality he has.

"And if you think of all the things that they did in that match, we still managed to control them – and it's difficult to control Uruguay.

"We were able to keep consistency even with so many changes within the team."

Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson Becker had to be alert to keep out a Uruguay side that felt hard done by the penalty decision.

Oscar Tabarez's men equipped themselves well in north London, where they fielded some inexperienced players with captain Diego Godin, Jose Gimenez, Sebastian Coates and Fernando Muslera absent.

"I am pleased with how the young players did rather than focusing on the difficulties we've had, which have been significant," Uruguay head coach Tabarez said.

"We knew that we were up against a very strong team.

"It's not easy to play when you don't have a lot of prior international experience but with talented players, they seem like they're older than they really are.

"They are able to develop as a football player in a short space of time and that's important because they're able to give us more options.

"Now the game is over, we can say that we did have a lot of key players out for the game.

"Therefore, having said all that and rather than focusing on the result, I think we have to say that we didn't create so many chances, but I think we matched Brazil.

"We had chances, they did as well and it's a shame that it comes down to a bit of a controversial situation."