Gabriel Jesus, Paulinho help Brazil end Chile's World Cup hopes

Brazil capped off a majestic World Cup qualifying campaign as they dashed Chile's hopes of making the finals in Russia.

The five-time winners of the tournament had already booked their tickets after winning 11 of their 17 matches and faced a Chile side in Sao Paulo who still held out hope of making the tournament.

But a brace from Manchester City's Gabriel Jesus followed an opener from Barcelona's Paulinho to break Chilean hearts.

Neither side were able to break through in the opening 45 minutes as Brazil's pressure came to nothing and Chile missed the support of Arturo Vidal, who was suspended for the game.

It took a mistake from Claudio Bravo to let Brazil open their tally - a Neymar free-kick was struck over the wall but Bravo managed to get a hand to it.

But the ball spilled straight into the path of Paulinho who slotted it into the corner from six yards past the Manchester City keeper on 55 minutes.

Brazil doubled their lead two minutes later as Alexis Sanchez lost the ball on the edge of Brazil's penalty area, Neymar took a stunning cross-field pass under control and set it up on a plate for Gabriel Jesus to finish.

Chile - who started the day in third - were staring down the barrel of a play-off match against New Zealand, but a late equaliser from Peru pushed them down into sixth and out of the qualifying positions.

La Roja pushed but were running out of ideas and their fate was sealed when Gabriel Jesus got his second in the dying minutes of the game.

Claudio Bravo went up for a corner but was left stranded as the ball was fired up to Gabriel Jesus, who was able to tap in from close range to secure the 3-0 win.

The result, coupled with Peru's 1-1 draw with Colombia, meant Chile wound up sixth in the table on goal difference, with Sanchez, Vidal and Eduardo Vargas missing out on their chance to shine next summer.

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