Cristiano Ronaldo may be banging in the goals at the 2018 FIFA World Cup, but even he’s got nothing on the resident trickster of the tournament: Neymar.
While the Brazilian had a sub-par showing against Switzerland in his nation’s opener, he did manage to get on the scoresheet in their 2-0 win over Costa Rica on Friday night.
For most parts of the tie, it looked like the Costa Ricans would hold on for a creditable draw against the five-time world champions, only for Philippe Coutinho to break the deadlock in the 91st minute.
With six minutes of added time signalled by the referee, Brazil simply had to run down the block but even that aspect of the game they did in in style and their talisman led the way with an sensational piece of skill on the byline:
Right time… right place for this cheekiness!! #Neymar 🔥🔥🔥 #WorldCup #BRA pic.twitter.com/DlcHcrxU25
— Rio Ferdinand (@rioferdy5) June 22, 2018
England and Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand, who is currently on pundit duty for a British broadcaster, shared the video, much to the delight of the inhabitants of Twitter.
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Neymar’s move, called the rainbow, is a pretty nifty piece of skill to get yourself out of trouble but the fact that the Paris Saint-Germain forward could pull it off right at the death is testament to his fitness as well.
To cap off a fine evening for himself and for the team, the world’s most expensive footballer of all time then went ahead and scored a tap-in to get his account up and running at the World Cup.
While the second goal did flatter Brazil a bit, they will be over the top for with three points in the bag, they can now begin to express themselves better in their final group stage game.
They play Serbia in a must-win clash for both sides on June 27 (11.30 PM IST).