RIO DE JANEIRO: Brazil captain Neymar blasted his first goal of the Olympics to edge the hosts closer to a first football gold medal in a bruising 2-0 quarter-final win over Colombia.

The Barcelona star curled home an exquisite free-kick after just 12 minutes, but was lucky to stay on the field when he chopped down Andres Roa, sparking a brawl between both sets of players and coaches.

Brazil kept their cool, and a fourth clean sheet in four Games matches, as Luan’s dipping effort eight minutes from time set up a semi-final meeting with Honduras in Rio on Wednesday.

Germany remained on course for a mouthwatering rematch with Brazil in next Saturday’s final, two years on from their 7-1 thrashing of the hosts at the 2014 World Cup, by disposing of Portugal 4-0 in Brasilia.

Brazil edged the latest instalment of a bad-tempered trilogy with South American rivals Colombia in Sao Paulo with Neymar the focus of attention for good and bad reasons.

Next up for Germany is a semi-final with Nigeria in Salvador on Wednesday. The Africans overcame Denmark 2-0 thanks to goals from Chelsea’s John Obi Mikel and Aminu Umar.

Gold medallists in 1996, Nigeria have reached the last four despite organisational chaos off the field.—AFP