Neymar scores stunning goal for Brazil vs Croatia at Qatar World Cup | OneFootball

Neymar scored a sensational goal in extra-time against Croatia to leave Brazil on the brink of the Qatar World Cup semi-finals.

The Paris Saint-Germain superstar moved level with Pele for goals scored for Brazil (77).

And it was one of the best, and most important, goals of Neymar’s illustrious career.

Croatia vs Brazil – Cagey first half

The first of the 2022 World Cup’s four quarter-finals took place on Friday afternoon and fans inside the Education City Stadium in Al Rayyan witnessed a cagey opening 45 minutes.

Brazil coach Tite named an unchanged starting XI against the 2018 World Cup finalists, with Neymar flanked by Vinicius Jr and Raphinha behind Richarlison, but clear-cut chances were in short supply during the first half.

Brazil hadn’t won a World Cup knockout game against a European side since beating Germany in the 2002 final – the last year they lifted football’s most prestigious trophy – but went into this match as firm favourites to reach the semi-finals.

However, it didn’t take long for Croatia to demonstrate that they would be anything but pushovers.

Brazil may have crushed South Korea 4-1 in the Round of 16 but the Croatians are a far more streetwise team.

Other than a deflected Neymar free-kick on the stroke of half-time, Croatia goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic was relatively untroubled.

Dominik Livakovic starred in the second half

But it was a different story at the start of the second half, with Livakovic forced into action shortly after the restart.

With 20 minutes left of normal time, Livakovic’s save tally was up to six – one more save than Brazil’s goalkeeper Alisson had made all tournament at that point.

Livakovic, the game’s standout performer, then pulled off another fine save from Lucas Paqueta in the 80th minute.

Croatia, meanwhile, had failed to muster a single shot on target with 10 minutes left of normal time but were still firmly in with a chance of reaching the semi-finals.

Zlatko Dalic’s side managed to get to the end of 90 minutes with their clean sheet still intact, which meant a 30-minute period of extra-time.

Video: Neymar’s extraordinary goal vs Croatia

However, Livakovic couldn’t keep out Neymar, who scored a truly special goal at the end of the first half of extra-time, levelling Pele’s record in the process.

Watch Neymar’s goal here:

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