Douglas Costa struck a 92nd-minute winner as Brazil kicked off their Copa America campaign with a 2-1 win over Peru in Temuco this morning.

The Brazilians looked on course to begin their campaign in lukewarm fashion after Neymar instantly cancelled out Christian Cueva's fourth-minute opener.

However, second-half substitute Costa - who had earlier missed a fine chance - made amends in the closing stages as Brazil stuttered their way to all three points.

Dunga's men brought a 10-game winning streak with them to Chile in a run of form that offered renewed hope of a bright future following their disappointments of 12 months ago.

This time last year, the Selecao had kicked off a World Cup on home soil that would ultimately end in disaster, after losing 7-1 to Germany at the semi-final stage under Luiz Felipe Scolari.

Widely criticised for his performance in that mauling in Belo Horizonte, David Luiz was the villain on the big stage once more tonight as his error contributed to the opening goal after just four minutes.

The Paris Saint-Germain defender inexplicably failed to clear the ball inside the box before being dispossessed, as Cueva then finished at the near post following goalkeeper Jefferson's hashed clearance.

Nevertheless, it was the wake-up call that Brazil needed and Peru were then guilty of slack defending directly from the kickoff. Neymar wandered into the area unmarked to head home Dani Alves's excellent cross to restore parity.

The right-hand side was proving a fruitful source of chances for Brazil, who could, and perhaps should, have went ahead on 20 minutes when another fine cross from Alves was headed over by Diego Tardelli.

Willian and Carlos Lobaton went close for their respective nations towards the end of the half - but Dunga's side were unlucky not to go ahead within 10 minutes of the restart when Neymar's strike rattled the crossbar.

The Barcelona man was at the forefront of everything for Selecao and his magic helped set up Costa on 75 minutes but, instead of going for goal, the Shakhtar Donetsk midfielder squared back to Neymar and the chance was wasted.

However, there was still time to make up for his indecision as Costa found the composure that eluded him earlier by latching on to Neymar's pass to slot home in added-on time.

Written by
Shane Callaghan