Robinho came off the bench to head home the winner in Brazil’s 2-1 victory over Chile late Tuesday, taking his personal tally to nine against their South American rivals.

Robinho, who has now scored one more goal against Chile than Pele, was recalled for this month’s friendlies against Chile and Honduras after two years in the international wilderness.

He appears to have taken his chance and his performances in both games suggest he will make it into Luiz Felipe Scolari’s squad for next year’s World Cup.

“I always had luck against Chile,” Robinho said after the final whistle at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.

“I didn’t know I had the record against Chile until just now. What was important was that we played well.”

Brazil opened the scoring in the 14th minute when Oscar threaded a perfect pass to Hulk, who lashed home a shot from 12 metres out.

Neither side was able to impose themselves on the match and Chile, coming off a 2-0 win over England at Wembley, grabbed an equaliser in the 70th minute when Eduardo Vargas picked up a fortuitous knock down and stroked the ball past Julio Cesar.

However, Brazil took the lead again 12 minutes from time thanks to Robinho who was on hand to bullet a header home from point-blank range.

The result ended Chile’s 10-game unbeaten run and took Brazil’s string of un-beaten matches to six.