‘This is the beginning of a new cycle,’ says Ancelotti after Brazil exit

Brazil manager Carlo Ancelotti insisted his side deserved more from their World Cup last-16 defeat to Norway, describing the painful elimination as "the beginning of a new cycle" rather than the end of the Selecao's journey.

Brazil's dream of a sixth World Cup title ended with a 2-1 defeat, as Erling Haaland struck twice to send Norway through despite long spells of Brazilian control.

The Italian admitted the dressing room was devastated but urged his players to look beyond the disappointment and focus on building for the future.

"Obviously, we are all deeply saddened. Because I think we haven't had a particularly good World Cup, I think we deserved to win today's game,” he said after the match.

“When a moment like this happens, you have to think that a defeat is the beginning of a new adventure. We have to keep improving, find new ideas, this defeat is not an end, it's the beginning of a new cycle,” he added.

Ancelotti believed Brazil controlled much of the contest and were undone by Haaland's quality rather than any tactical shortcomings.

"We knew they could play in that style, they tried to maintain the intensity of the game with possession of the ball, we had the game under control for 70 minutes, but Haaland ended up deciding it."

Asked how Brazil's supporters would react, the former Real Madrid boss said, “I don't know how they'll react, but I can say that we're going to continue working for this team, trying to improve and look for new ideas. The same thing we did this year.”

"I think the work was good, that's how football is, sometimes you have to deal with the sadness of a defeat. I'm used to that. We're going to manage this defeat with a renewed impetus to the work and in the evaluation of the players.

"Now we have to manage the sadness, tomorrow we start thinking about what the future of this team can be, a team that already has a very solid group of young and veteran players who can continue, and new players who can join."

The 67-year-old maintained Brazil had the quality to compete for the title and said his side created enough chances to beat Norway.

"I think Brazil, with this squad, could compete. In today's game, it seemed to me that the team had control; we had opportunities."

"We had many opportunities in the first half, and also in the second half when it was 0-0, then the changes were to bring more freshness, to give more depth to try to win the game."