RIO DE JANEIRO – Fred scored two goals, Neymar added another and host Brazil defeated world champion Spain 3-0 to win the Confederations Cup on Sunday night as protesters clashed with riot police outside Maracana Stadium.

Brazil, a five-time world champion, beat the reigning world and European champion and ended Spain’s 29-game, three-year winning streak in competitive matches.

Fred put Brazil ahead in the second minute, Neymar doubled the lead in the 44th with his fourth goal of the tournament and Fred added his fifth in the 47th.

Brazil, which won its third straight Confederations Cup, has not lost a competitive home match since 1975.

Spain, which had not lost a competitive game since its 2010 World Cup opener against Switzerland, had a miserable night. Sergio Ramos sent a penalty kick wide in the 55th and defender Gerard Pique was ejected by Dutch referee Bjorn Kuipers with a straight red card for fouling Neymar in the 68th.

Eliminated in the quarterfinals of the last two World Cups, the Selecao was hoping for a boost as it prepares to host the World Cup next year for the first time since 1950. Having not played a competitive match since the 2011 Copa America, Brazil had slipped to 22nd in the FIFA ranking, between Ghana and Mali.

Spain, ranked first for the past 20 months, is the most accomplished national team of the 21st century, winning its first World Cup in 2010 between titles in the 2008 and 2012 European Championships.

But in the stadium that will host the World Cup final on July 14 next year, Brazil dominated La Furia Roja.

“The champion is back,” chanted the crowd of more than 73,000 people at the renovated Maracana.

Spain had been unbeaten in 26 matches overall, including friendlies, since a 1-0 loss to England in 2011 and had outscored opponents 69-11 in competitive matches since the loss to Switzerland in South Africa.

But Spain had not played Brazil since a 1999 exhibition, and they hadn’t met in a competitive match since the Selecao’s 1-0 win in the first round of the 1986 World Cup in Mexico.

There were protests outside the stadium during the match, with police using rubber bullets and tear gas to keep demonstrators from getting too close. A wave of anti-government protests has swept across Brazil in recent weeks, and many affected the Confederations Cup host cities as demonstrators complained of the costs of hosting the World Cup.

On the field, it was a heated match from the start, with players from both teams pushing and shoving each other a few times.

 

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