Italy went down valiantly to Ronaldinho's Brazil 2-0 as the two most successful footballing nations in history played a friendly in London.

Fabio Grosso had his goal incorrectly disallowed in the 3rd minute after lobbing Julio Cesar after officials ruled that the Italian World Cup Winner was in an offside position. 

Brazil counted themselves lucky and scored in the 13th minute when Elano slotted home from close range after a Legrottaglie's attempted intercept became an assist.

After this Lippi's men were on the backfoot for most of the opening half and hour and Andrea Pirlo and Fabio Grosso were Italy's stand-outs.

In the 28th minute Manchester City forward Robinho dribbled through three defenders and guided an accurate left foot shot from a tight angle that not even Gigi Buffon could keep out, effectively ending Marcello Lippi's 31-game undefeated streak as Italy coach.

Italy's three man starting attack of Di Natale, Gilardino and Pepe were out-muscled by a vigorous Brazilian defence with Di Natale trying from outside the box and Fabio Cannavaro trying a bicycle kick from a corner.

Lippi's men looked good going into the break but it was Brazil's technical brilliance that stood out in the opening 45 minutes.

Luca Toni joined Giuseppe Rossi and Mauro Camoranesi up front in the second half and immediately the Italians looked the better side. 

Rossi dribbled through successfully and caused problems for the Selecao as Pirlo and Aquilani distributed wide to Fabio Grosso and Zambrotta well. 

And it was Rossonero midfielder Pirlo who delivered a delightful through ball to Luca Toni who scored past Julio Cesar but the goal was annulled with officials ruling that Toni had touched the ball with his hand.

By now Brazil's dominance disappeared and Giuseppe Rossi continued to cause many problems for Juan and Lucio. 

The match took an aggressive turn midway through the second term as Italian players felt hard done by after a series of calls that went against the Azzurri. 

The last 20 minutes turned into the Julio Cesar show as the Inter Milan goalkeeper kept out a series of Azzurri chances including a cheeky Luca Toni shot that looked a certain goal, a Luca Toni header and a Fabio Grosso free kick heading straight for the top corner.

The match ended 2-0 and both teams played well with Brazil dominating the first period and Italy the second.

Italy will have a chance for redemption at the 2009 Confederation Cup as the current World Champions will take on Brazil in the group stage.

Italy: Buffon; Zambrotta, Legrottaglie, Cannavaro, Grosso; Pirlo (Dossena 74), De Rossi (Aquilani 58), Montolivo (Camoranesi 46); Di Natale (Perrotta 46), Gilardino (Rossi 46), Pepe (Toni 46)

Brazil: Julio Cesar; Maicon, Lucio, Juan (Thiago Silva 77), Marcelo; Gilberto Silva (Josue 88), Felipe Melo; Elano (Daniel Alves 69), Ronaldinho, Robinho (Julio Baptista 88); Adriano (Pato 80)

Ref: Webb (Eng)

Forza Azzurri