SÃO PAULO – Four of Brazil’s top World Cup footballers met children from poor backgrounds on Tuesday at an event organised by World Cup sponsors Gillette.

(See more of my photos of Oscar, Paulinho, David Luiz and Dani Alves messing about with shaving foam.)

The event gave a group of children from the CUFA favela organisation the chance to meet and pose with the star footballers, who will make up Brazil’s World Cup squad – the Seleção.

The most poignant moment came when Dani Alves was asked by one of the children about the recent racist incident where a spectator threw a banana at him at a match in Spain.

“It tasted pretty good,” he quipped, before speaking to his young audience about the importance of equality.