Croatia-Brazil, Neymar hooks Pelé but his World Cup is over

A historic goal. Because it allowed him, Neymar jr, to reach Pelé, with 77 goals, at the top of the rankings of the best scorers with the Selecao shirt. However, it was not a festive afternoon for O Ney as the Seleçao were joined by Petkovic’s goal and eliminated on penalties by Croatia. The PSG star had imagined a different ending to the story to celebrate such a heartfelt and important personal milestone.

ROLLER COASTER

—

The World Cup, which Neymar seemed to be over after the injury to his right ankle in the match against Serbia, took place after the games missed against Switzerland and Cameroon: in the round of 16 he scored the 2-0 penalty against South Korea, while in the he was the one who gave the torcida the illusion of qualifying for the semifinals. O Ney has reached 8 goals in a final phase of the World Cup, -1 behind Messi, but he won’t have the chance to reach him in this edition. He will have to wait until 2026 when he will be 34 years old.

LIKE PELE’

—

Paquetà’s assist allowed the number 10 to go into the serpentine and overcome Livakovic who had been a block for 106 minutes. O Ney’s action was spectacular because it was he who initiated it and finished it after two exchanges with as many teammates. He started from the frontline and went all the way to goal, despite Croatia being fully lined up. To equalize O Rei chose the most suitable moment because the match for Brazil had gone badly: the score was nailed to 0-0 and the risk of going to penalties was real. Too bad that after Petkovic he found the 1-1 and there were penalties, fatal for the ambitions of Tite and of an entire nation.