Brazil coach Tite says he takes inspiration from Pep Guardiola's Manchester City in seeking to strike the right balance for his team.

Neymar's penalty earned a hard-fought 1-0 win for the Selecao against their South American rivals Uruguay in a keenly contested friendly at Arsenal's Emirates Stadium on Friday. 

While Uruguay were missing a number of regulars, star forwards Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani did lead the line in north London, and Tite was satisfied at having kept La Celeste at bay. 

"It was a South American derby, and regardless of it being a friendly we've respect for Uruguay," he told a news conference. 

"They played two different systems and did well in both of them. They created chances and found ways to get the ball through. They have dangerous players up front. 

"If you think of all the things they did in that match, we still managed to control them, and it's difficult to control Uruguay, even when they were putting those difficult balls through us.

"In this game Uruguay were trying to play through us, and this is our third-straight clean sheet. Especially here in England, when I look at Man City, we were trying to balance our game like they do."

Speaking after the match, Everton's Richarlison stated his intention to try and force his way into Brazil's Copa America squad, and Tite acknowledged the forward presented him with a good attacking option from the bench. 

"After half-time we were able to penetrate the Uruguayan defence a bit more using Douglas Costa, and that's because we took the wing backs out of their positions," the coach said.

"[We] were trying to pull out the defenders into midfield and take advantage of that space. That's why I brought Richarlison on."