We’ve all learned by taking on Brazil, says Levein

The Scotland boss said: “One thing is for certain, we won’t have any tougher friendlies than that.

“I was looking forward to playing against Brazil as much as anybody.

“I think we can play better, anyone who watches our players knows that.

“But for me this week has been about getting the players together and developing a team mentality and that showed and we have to take into account the quality of opposition.

“There is always a thought in the back of your mind when you are playing against the quality of opposition that we played against that we might get turned over but that didn’t happen.

“I was really pleased by the way players stuck at it and worked their backsides off and I’m sure they have learned an awful lot, as I did.”

Levein insists he was not surprised by the performance of two-goal Neymar, who was the pick of the Brazil side.

The former Scotland defender said: “We knew about him beforehand. People were saying before the game that they were weakened because they had to bring in Neymar as a back-up – well, we don’t know if that is weakening any team.

“It’s not just the quality of the players, you have to give Brazil the credit for pressing the match.

“They pressed higher up the field than previously, they didn’t give our defenders any time at all to settle and play the ball to the midfield. So for me, their athleticism equals their technical ability.”

Levein revealed that Blackpool midfielder Charlie Adam was more disappointed than most of the Scottish players.

“The lads are disappointed,” he said. “Charlie Adam in particular is disappointed in the way he played. I said to Charlie that it just shows him where he has come from in the last year or so.

“There were some people (yesterday morning) talking about Charlie being as good as anyone on the pitch and that is the level of performance that Charlie is expected to put in these days.”

Brazil coach Mano Menezes seemed unsure about an alleged incident involving bananas being thrown at Neymar, saying: “If it happened that would be lamentable but it has not been confirmed.”

Neymar said: “I feel great and scored two but what happened with the banana is sad. I don’t want to make a big deal of it.”

However, an SFA spokesperson said: “There has been no such incident reported to the police or the stadium safety officer.

“In fact, the tens of thousands of Scotland supporters who travelled to the Emirates were commended for their behaviour.

“The Scotland supporters are known the world over for their impeccable behaviour.”