LONDON, Nov 19 World champions Spain suffered their worst defeat for 47 years as Portugal hammered their neighbours 4-0 in a Lisbon friendly arranged to promote the countries' joint World Cup bid on Wednesday.

In another big derby, played in neutral Qatar, Argentina beat Brazil 1-0 courtesy of a stoppage-time Lionel Messi special.

The heavyweight clashes were the stand-out matches on a night of almost 40 friendlies around the world, where swathes of debutants stepped into the international limelight as their coaches took the opportunity to experiment.

There were a clutch of impressive away wins in Europe as France beat England 2-1 at Wembley, Belgium upset Russia 2-0, Norway overcame Ireland 2-1 and Greece defeated Austria 2-1.

World Cup runners-up Netherlands beat Turkey 1-0 but several of Europe's other big guns failed to ignite.

Germany were held to a goalless draw in Sweden, Italy, with four debutants, drew 1-1 with Romania in Austria in a game marred by racist chanting from Italian fans, while Denmark against Czech Republic also ended 0-0.

In the night's two Euro 2012 qualifiers, Croatia beat Malta 3-0 and Finland thrashed San Marino 8-0.

Spain beat Portugal 1-0 in the second round in South Africa but, despite having a near-full strength side, they were outclassed and slipped to their worst defeat since Scotland beat them 6-2 in 1963.

Carlos Martins just before the break and Helder Postiga with a backheeled goal just after, put the hosts in control.

A second for Postiga and Hugo Almeida's stoppage-time fourth had the home fans in dreamland and brought a sudden halt to the pre-match bid-boosting back-slapping.

The money-spinning duel in the desert between Brazil and Argentina promised much but delivered only once a cagey 90 minutes had been played.

Twice former world player of the year Ronaldinho of Brazil looked lively on his comeback and almost scored with a back-heel but in the second minute of stoppage time Messi showed why he inherited the crown.

The striker picked his way through a ragged Brazilian defence showing great control before angling in a low shot.

It was Argentina's first win over Brazil is six matches since 2005 and gave Sergio Batista a winning start as full-time coach following his three interim games in charge.

Results

Portugal 4Spain 0
Austria 1Greece 2
Netherlands 1Turkey 0
Poland 3Ivory Coast 1
Romania 1Italy 1
South Africa 0US 1
Sweden 0Germany 0
Northern Ireland 1Morocco 1
Ireland 1Norway 2
Slovenia 1Georgia 2
England 1France 2
Egypt 3Australia 0
Israel 3Iceland 2
Denmark 0Czech Republic 0
Luxembourg 0Algeria 0
Switzerland 2Ukraine 2
Albania 0Macedonia 0
Argentina 1Brazil 0
Bulgaria 0Serbia 1
Hungary 2Lithuania 0
Estonia 1Liechtenstein 1
Russia 0Belgium 2
Slovakia 2Bosnia 3
China 1Latvia 0
Hong Kong 0Paraguay 7
Montenegro 2Azerbaijan 0
Oman 0Belarus 4
Chile 2Uruguay 0
—Reuters