A temple of football for the 1950 World Cup.

If football is a religion in Brazil, then the Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro provides the perfect place to worship.

The largest football stadium in the world at the time, it was built to host the 1950 World Cup and, in theory, witness the host nation lift the greatest prize in football for the first time.

But football’s a funny old game and in the deciding clash between Brazil and Uruguay on 16 July, the best part of 200,000 people looked on in horror as Brazil were outdone by their southern neighbours, claiming their second World Cup title.