Chile looking to end inferior record against the Brazilians

La Roja have an abysmal record against their South American rivals having suffered a total of seven defeats over the last decade, but the coach is hoping to turn that into a positive.

He said: "I think the psychological aspect is always very important in a competition.

"It's more of a factor of motivation for us in my point of view. We have the chance to reverse a historical negative trend for Chile.

"We shouldn't think that because we were beaten by them in the past we must go on the pitch gloomy.

"No, we should acknowledge our past record, but must also aspire to try and find a place for ourselves.

"One is always enthusiastic to change history when history is not favourable.

"Each match gives us the opportunity to do that and (today's) match is a very attractive opportunity for us to reverse that trend."

The Argentinean has seen his team enjoy a good competition so far with wins over Honduras and Switzerland helping them finish second in Group H behind winners Spain, who they lost to in their final group match.

And Bielsa hopes they can learn from that loss to the European champions.

He continued: "The teams gradually change according to the games they play.

"We have played three matches in this World Cup and I think these matches have strengthened our experience. Especially the last match against Spain, which I think has similarities to this match.

"We hope that the experience will help enhance our chances so that we can try to keep progressing in this tournament."

Chile will be without two of their key players – Gary Medel and Waldo Ponce – who are suspended, but their boss is confident they have sufficient strength on the bench to cope with Brazil.

He added: "As for the absences of Medel and Ponce, they've had a very good performance so far.

"They are no doubt valuable, but I think we are in a position to put other team-mates on the pitch that can do the same job."

Brazil coach Dunga insists that past records will count for nothing when they come up against Chile.

"These are merely statistics, nothing else," he said. "What is important is our performance on the pitch against Chile. My players always know that it's the next game that is the most important one. For now our next game is going to be against Chile, so we will prepare as we do against any other team.

"The past is in the past."

The two have also met twice previously at World Cups – in 1962 and 1998 – with the Brazilians triumphing on both occasions, while Dunga's men also won on both occasions during qualifying.

But Dunga believes that reaching the knockout stage changes the whole mindset of teams.

"During the group stage, there were opportunities to recover over the three games," he said.

"Now in the knockout stages it's all or nothing. Every game can be counted as a championship game.

"Each team has their distinctive styles of playing. We have to be able to surprise our opponents and stop them from achieving their goals against Brazil.

"There are no easy opponents today, all of the teams want to succeed."

"I believe this is a different Chile. They are a now a different type of team, much faster."