FALLING APART

Arsenal-bound Lichtsteiner was frustrated by Neymar going to ground, even though Brazil icon was fouled a record TEN times

NEW Arsenal signing Stephan Lichtsteiner has taken a swipe at Neymar for his antics in Brazil’s opening 1-1 draw with Switzerland.

Emirates-bound defender Lichtsteiner was frustrated the world’s most expensive star was continually going to ground every time he was challenged by one of Vladimir Petkovic’s Swiss stars at the Rostov Arena.

Lichtsteiner, snapped up on a free transfer from Juventus to become Unai Emery’s first signing as Arsenal boss, was one of three Switzerland players booked for fouling the Brazil striker in the Group E battle.

Although Neymar was fouled a record 10 times – the most fouls on one player in the World Cup since 1998, when Tunisia fouled Alan Shearer 11 times – Lichtsteiner wasn’t impressed with the £199million Brazilian poster boy.

The right-back, 34, stopped short of branding the Paris Saint-Germain striker a diver.

But he reckoned Neymar was always looking to buy a foul from Mexican referee Cesar Ramos who angered Brazil by not using VAR after Steven Zuber pushed Miranda for the Swiss equaliser

“It’s very difficult playing him. He’s fast, he’s technical, you need to keep up with him all the time because he’s dangerous. It’s a big challenge,” said the Gunner.

“And I was a little bit worried about the referee.

“Every time he fell down it was a whistle for a foul, so that was a bit of a challenge.

“You think to yourself, ‘Don’t be too aggressive’ because every time he goes down it’s a foul. So because of that I had to be a bit careful.”

Neymar hobbled away from the Rostov Arena in discomfort after a bruising night with the Swiss shutting him down every time he was in possession.

And after recovering from Philippe Coutinho’s sensational bending strike to equalise five minutes into the second half with a Zuber header from Xherdan Shaqiri’s corner, the Swiss fought hard to hold on to a point.

Lichtsteiner added: “We are a mix. We are physical and defend well but we also attack and we showed that.

“We knew Neymar was a danger so it was very good teamwork on the right side with Valon Behrami, Fabian Schaer and me closing him down – it was almost a perfect game.

“Maybe it’s an advantage to play a big team like Brazil first in the group. Maybe they don’t know us that well, they don’t have the feeling for the tournament.

“The first game is never easy for a big team in the first game.

“But Switzerland have a good team – and we got a good point.”