Neymar not competing with 'icons'

Brazil superstar Neymar has levelled with Romario for third position on Brazil’s all-time leading goal-scorer list as he scored his 55th for the country against Austria in an international friendly. Ronaldo and Pele are the two remaining targets for him as the 26-year-old needs just seven more goals to eclipse Ronaldo’s tally while he needs 22 more to conquer Pele’s and claim Brazil’s top scorer title. 

Neymar achieved the feat on his first start since suffering a broken metatarsal in February, finding the net after 63 minutes of Brazil's final pre-World Cup friendly against Austria in Vienna on Sunday.

After coming on in the second half, he scored in the 63rd minute to help secure the 3-0 vicory.

"For me it is a great honour, great happiness to reach Romario and to be among the top scorers of the Brazilian team," the PSG star told reporters after the match.

"I wanted to pay homage to him in some way because he is an idol. Like I said last week, I do not want to be better than anyone, just myself.

"So it was a way to pay tribute, because he is an idol, not just to me, but all Brazilians."

Neymar's ultimate target will be to catch fellow Santos icon Pele, who remains well ahead at the top of the list on 77 goals.

Four years ago, Cristiano Ronaldo produced an emphatic performance as the forward bagged his maiden World Cup hattrick to help Portugal draw 3-3 against Spain in their Group B encounter of the FIFA World Cup 2018 in Sochi. 

With just two minutes left in the regulation time, Ronaldo swerved a sweetly-timed freekick past the Spanish wall and keeper David De Gea as Portugal roared to level terms. 

Ronaldo also made yet another record in that game as he became the first player to score in eight consecutive major international tournaments when he converted a fourth-minute penalty after drawing a faul from his then Real Madrid teammate Nacho Fernandez to put Portugal 1-0 ahead in the game. 

With that goal, the Portugal skipper extended an unprecedented streak of scoring at major tournaments. Since finding the net at Euro 2004, he has gone on to grab goals at three further European Championships and four successive World Cups. 

Thanks to the goal, Ronaldo also became the fourth player to score in four World Cups, following in the footsteps of Uwe Seeler, Pele and Miroslav Klose.

Ronaldo scored once again just before half-time to give Portugal the lead after Diego Costa equalised it for Spain. Portugal conceded two goals in the second half and it looked like Portugal would go on to start their 2018 World Cup campaign with a defeat. 

Ronaldo, however, had other ideas as he curled in a late freekick to ensure a point for Portugal.   
 

Each goal scored by Argentina captain Lionel Messi or Brazilian superstar Neymar at the upcoming World Cup will lead to 10,000 meals being donated to school children in the Caribbean and Latin America.

The initiative was taken yesterday by MasterCard as a method to battle childhood hunger and malnutrition in those regions. The programme will run until March 2020, with each goal in official tournaments (such as La Liga, Champions League, Copa del Rey and FIFA tournaments) resulting in 10,000 meals being donated to the United Nations World Food Programme.

"I'm proud to be a part of this campaign that will help change the lives of thousands of children in my country and other regions of the world. I hope this initiative gives as many smiles as possible to all the children," Messi said of the campaign.

Neymar was also pleased with the initiative, saying: "I'm happy I can help make sure that children in the region can have a plate of food and more hope. Latin Americans know we can do great things when we come together, and this is an example of that. Together we can fight hunger."

With both superstars the bookmakers' favourites to finish among the top-scorers, plenty of children will be well-fed throughout the showpiece event in Russia.

Didier Deschamps proclaimed France’s second World Cup triumph was “just as beautiful” as their first after leading them to glory again 20 years on, but Croatia defender Dejan Lovren said that Deschamps' team "did not play football."

"I'm disappointed because we lost the game, we played much, much better football than them, but on the other hand I'm proud of this team and what we have achieved," Lovren said.

"We played beautiful football again. France were one of the favourites to win the World Cup and they did it. I think we were better. They did it another way. They didn't play football, they waited for their chances and they scored. They had their own tactic and you need to respect that. They played the tournament like that, every game, but when you look at all the countries behind us, we're second.” he added.

"There's nothing to talk about now. It's difficult to describe. Maybe after a week or two, a couple of months... right now, it's difficult. Some moments I feel sad, some moments I'm happy. Overall, I'm proud."

Ivan Perisic conceded the first-half penalty after referee Nestor Pitana penalised him for handball following a VAR review.

"I was sure he would not give the pen," said the Liverpool centre-back. "From my point of view, he [Perisic] could not react.

"It was a critical moment, we came back at 1-1, and then this penalty and then 3-1, 4-1, but even then we didn't stop playing football, we still believed, we gave everything, and this is why people are proud now in Croatia."

Didier Deschamps' side had claimed a 1-0 over Belgium in the semifinals with a defensive masterclass which left Belgium star Eden Hazard and Thibaut Courtois deeply unimpressed with what he felt were overly cagey tactics by France in the semi-final, and now Lovren also felt the frustration of coming up against Deschamps's style. Not always the most entertaining, however, in the end, French squad just had too much talent at its disposal to get the job done.

Neymar was slammed by some of Brazil's top politicians for his role in the Dani Alves sexual assault case - after allegedly transferring €150,000 to the Spanish courts on August 9 on behalf of Alves in payment for "mitigating compensation for damage caused" which helped reduced the sentence of his ex-Brazil team-mate.

Alves, 40, was jailed for four and a half years on Thursday after being found guilty of raping a woman in a Barcelona nightclub in December 2022.

According to Brazilian outlet UOL, the payment made by Neymar on behalf of Alves had a serious impact on the length of the sentence imposed as Spanish courts can punish those found guilty of sexual offences to 12 years as a maximum.

Brazilian minister for women Cida Goncalves called the sentence "soft" and president of the Worker's Party and representative Gleisi Hoffman hit out at Neymar for helping Alves.

Hoffman said, via Football Espana, "The conviction of the rapist Daniel Alves is pedagogical and exemplary, it shows that society no longer tolerates sexist and misogynistic behaviour.

"The absurd thing was that he borrowed money from Neymar, paid the compensation and reduced the sentence, something that does not solve anything for the victim, it does not erase their suffering."

Neymar and Alves were long-time team-mates in the Brazil team and have also played together for Barcelona and PSG.