Oscar Tabarez was pleased with the performance of his inexperienced Uruguay side, despite going down 1-0 to Brazil.

Neymar scored a controversial penalty in the 76th minute of Friday's friendly at Emirates Stadium, after Diego Laxalt had harshly been adjudged to have fouled Danilo, who also handled the ball in the run up to the incident.

Bar a late Richarlison chance, the penalty was the only time Brazil had penetrated a makeshift Uruguay defence short of Diego Godin, Jose Gimenez and first-choice goalkeeper Fernando Muslera.

Things could have been different at the other end, too, had Alisson not pulled off a string of saves to deny both Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani, and Tabarez believes the future is bright for Uruguay's youngsters, as he signalled out debutants Mathias Suarez and Bruno Mendez for individual praise.

"The team left me happy," Tabarez told a news conference. "We will continue to grow.

"It is not easy to play without too much international experience. Bruno is captain of the Under-20s and showed those talents.

"Bruno and Mathias seem to have more experience than their ages would suggest.

"That's important because it increases the potential of the team in terms of options. I think we had a fairly even match, we had chances, it hurts that it was defined by a controversial moment.

"We are encouraged by being competitive, even against Brazil."