NEY BOTHER
Brazil superstar makes it look easy as he scores a ‘worldie’ on his big comeback... and Firmino grabs the second at Anfield
NEYMAR announced he is ready and able to stamp his authority on the World Cup with a stunning return from a three-month injury lay-off at Anfield yesterday.
The Brazil superstar looked to be out of the tournament when he suffered a broken bone in his foot and badly sprained ankle just 98 days ago.
But yesterday, thrown on as a half-time sub in a warm-up game with Croatia, the £200million man took just 24 minutes to show he is back.
On a Brazil counter-attack, former Liverpool ace Philippe Coutinho slipped the ball through for Neymar who darted towards goal and dribbled around three challenges.
It still looked a tall order for the Paris Saint-germain forward to finish in a crowded area and from such an angle, but he ruthlessly buried the ball into the roof of the Croatia net via the crossbar.
Brazil boss Tite said: “For the first match back I actually expected less from him. I would have been happy with a quieter performance. But what he did was really extraordinary.
“Neymar is an extraordinary individual talent but the goal he scored came from a move, a build-up, involving the whole team. He’s aware of what they bring to him.”
It was a timely reminder why most football fans – not just Brazilians – will be enthused by the 26-year-old’s return to action and what appears to be a successful battle to regain fitness ahead of his country’s World Cup opener with Switzerland a week on Sunday. Neymar – a replacement for Manchester City’s Fernandinho – had already tested keeper Danijel Subasic with a shot from the edge of the box and threatened a couple more times after his goal heroics.
And the day was also one to remember for another sub, Liverpool frontman Roberto Firmino, who snatched the second goal in stoppage-time.
He took Danilo’s long pass on his chest and coolly waited for Subasic to commit himself before lobbing into the net.
Coutinho, back at Anfield for the first time since his £146m move to Barcelona in January, was booed by a small section of the crowd.
Liverpool defender Dejan Lovren almost opened the scoring for Croatia with a first-half header and Reds target Alisson, the Brazil and Roma keeper, made a great save to keep out Ante Rebic’s effort.