My word, there’s some big names in the Brazilian Olympic football squad

David Beckham or no David Beckham, the Great Britain Olympic football squad pales miserably in comparison to that of their Brazilian counterparts.

Days after Spain named an Olympic squad featuring European Championship winners Juan Mata and Jordi Alba, Brazil have revealed the list of names that will be trying to bring the gold medal back to South America and it will be enough to leave the other contenders shaking in their boots.

Santos forward Neymar, possessing one of the most illustrious YouTube highlight reels in football, AC Milan striker Alexandre Pato and Hulk are some of the attacking options available to Coach Mano Menezes, while Thiago Silva and Inter Milan defender Juan will anchor the defence.

Premier League stars Rafael da Silva of Manchester United and Spurs midfielder Sandro are also included and many will be keeping an eye on Lucas of Sao Paolo, who has already attracted interest from some big European clubs.

Brazil haven’t yet won an Olympic medal, but that squad should have enough to emerge from a group containing Egypt, Belarus and New Zealand and they could well expose the apparent gulf in class between them and the Great Britain side when the two sides meet in a pre-tournament friendly later this month.

Being honest, we hadn’t an awful lot of interest in the Olympic football tournament before, but after hearing of the Spanish and Brazilian squads, we’ll definitely be keeping an eye on it.

Brazil Olympic football squad:

Goalkeepers: Rafael Cabral (Santos), Neto (Fiorentina)

Defenders: Marcelo (Real Madrid), Rafael (Manchester United), Danilo (Porto), Alex Sandro (Porto), Thiago Silva (AC Milan), Juan (Inter Milan), Bruno Uvini (Sao Paulo)

Midfielders: Romulo (Vasco da Gama), Ganso (Santos), Oscar (Internacional), Sandro (Tottenham Hotspur), Lucas (Sao Paulo)

Forwards: Neymar (Santos), Alexandre Pato (AC Milan), Leandro Damiao (Internacional), Hulk (Porto).

Replacements: Marquinhos (Corinthians), Giuliano (Dniepr/UKR), Cassemiro (Sao Paulo), Gabriel (AC Milan/ITA)