“He hasn’t picked the baton up for me,” Liverpool legend claims Brazil captain Neymar is yet to reach Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo’s levels
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Neymar after scoring for Brazil during a WC Qualifier match.
Graeme Souness has urged Brazil superstar Neymar to live up to his potential as the “successor to Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo” at the World Cup, after the South American forward helped his team reach the quarter-finals in Qatar. On Monday, Neymar made a spectacular comeback from injury against South Korea, scoring from the penalty spot and setting up Vinicius Junior for the game’s first goal.
With his goal against South Korea, the 30-year-old pulled within one goal of Pele, Brazil’s all-time leading scorer. Neymar currently has 76 goals for the national team. However, Graeme Souness has questioned his potential to compete on football’s highest stage.
“I want to see more from him [Neymar], he has incredible talent. He was the apparent heir to Messi and Ronaldo but he hasn’t picked the baton up for me,” the Anfield legend said in a statement to ITV. “I’m not sitting here saying he isn’t an extremely talented man, but there is things about him easy on the eye”
“I just find it frustrating that when things are going well he likes to make it look it is very easy for him. I am not being a killjoy because some of the football tonight was fabulous but I’m thinking, some of his antics and his showboating, great on the eye for some people,” added Souness.
Related:Brazil pays tribute to Pele after beating South Korea in the 2022 FIFA World Cup Round of 16
Neymar to lead Brazil to glory at 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar
Although PSG and Brazil playmaker Neymar has won multiple trophies in his short career, including the Champions League, La Liga, Copa del Rey, Ligue 1, and the Confederations Cup with Brazil, he has long been criticized for not living up to his full potential. The Brazilian has never been far from the limelight since sealing a career-defining move from his homeland to Barcelona in 2013.
This is Neymar’s best chance yet to win the world cup as he attempts to guide a star-studded Brazil squad to its first World Cup glory since 2002 in Qatar. After Brazil’s victory over South Korea, the striker spearheaded celebrations honouring Pele, who is reportedly receiving medical care in a hospital. Neymar and his teammates also unfurled a banner in support of Pele, who is 82 years old.
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Sujeeth Shetty
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