Neymar named Brazil’s best player in Europe

NEW DELHI: An all-out aggressive East Bengal blanked Indian Arrows 2-0 in a one-sided I-League contest at the Ambedkar Stadium here on Tuesday. Attacking midfielder Mahmoud Al Amna opened the scoring for East Bengal with a superb curling free-kick in the 13th minute. Japanese star Katsumi Yusa doubled the lead with another excellent finish in the 16th minute.The victory saw East Bengal increase their lead at the top of the table with 17 points from eight matches, opening up a four point gap with second placed Minerva Punjab FC. India Arrows, on the other hand, remained at the seventh spot with seven points in their kitty. East Bengal started the proceedings on an attacking note, asking constant questions from the Indian Arrows defence which was left clueless time and again. Yusa, who was the key man for East Bengal in the midfield, controlling the ball well and creating chances in the initial minutes, was brought down by Arrows defender Boris Singh Thangjam on a couple of occasions. Neymar has been named the winner of the 2017 Samba de Ouro trophy, awarded to the best Europe-based Brazilian footballer.

It was the third time in the past four years that the Paris Saint-Germain forward has claimed the accolade, as he finished ahead of Liverpool's Philippe Coutinho and Real Madrid's Marcelo.

The award is decided by a vote of journalists, former players fan poll.

Neymar drew 27.71 percent of the vote, well clear of last year's winner Coutinho (16.64 percent) and Marcelo (14.43 percent).

Others to finish in the top 10 were Paulinho, Casemiro, Gabriel Jesus, Willian, Malcom, David Luiz and Ederson.

Neymar was named the world's third-best player at the 2017 FIFA Best awards in October, behind winner Cristiano Ronaldo and runner-up Lionel Messi. and an internet