Paulinho: Coutinho is a phenomenon FIFA World Cup 2018 - Serbia vs Brazil Barcelona duo combined to open the scoring

After the Barcelona duo combined for Brazil at the World Cup, Paulinho paid tribute to his club and international teammate Philippe Coutinho, labelling him a phenomenon.

The former Tottenham Hotspur man opened the scoring for the Selecao against Serbia thanks to a sublime through ball from Coutinho.

"I'm always looking for space and that's the way it happened for the first goal," he explained afterwards when discussing his strike.

"The phenomenon Coutinho gave me a great assist and I managed to score.

"Our goal was to reach the round of 16 and that's where we are, I'm not worried about Germany and won't comment on what happened to them."

The man who netted the second goal, Thiago Silva, was also very pleased with what he saw from the side as Brazil claimed top spot in the group.

"I saw a lot of positive things and from the first game to this point, we've done well," he said.

"We've had to change our game at times and have suffered but we also knew we could deal with that and managed to concentrate before scoring the second goal."

For goalkeeper Alisson, it was two men in particular who deserved special praise for the part that they played in the victory.

"Thiago Silva and Miranda are monsters, they defended so well and were also effective in the attack," the goalkeeper added.

Brazil have only conceded one goal so far in the tournament.