Childhood memories make Neymar emotional

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.

Brazil superstar Neymar brushed off his critics after firing the five-time World Cup winners to victory over Mexico on Monday and into a quarter-final showdown with Belgium.

Neymar scored one goal and created another as his increasingly impressive Brazil side overpowered the Mexicans 2-0 in sweltering conditions.

But Neymar's sparkling performance was tarnished by yet another example of his tendency to overreact to seemingly innocuous challenges.

The latest chapter in a bulging catalogue of histrionic behaviour came in the second half, when Mexico midfielder Miguel Layun appeared to step on his ankle as he lay prone.

Neymar writhed around and convulsed as if he had received an electric shock.

"I think it's a shame for football," Mexico coach Juan Carlos Osorio lamented afterwards, saying Neymar's antics had wasted precious time.

"We wasted a lot of time because of one single player ... we lost our style in the second half, because of the referee.

"This is a very bad example for the world and the world of football."

Brazilian superstar Neymar says he has no desire to be Brazil's all-time leading scorer despite being third in the Selecao's charts.

The 26-year-old returned from a three-month injury layoff in a friendly against Croatia on Sunday, when he opened the scoring with a sublime strike that took his tally for Brazil to 54, one behind Romario.

Only Ronaldo and Pele, who leads the charts with 77 strikes, lie in his path. However, speaking after that sumptuous strike off the crossbar had given Brazil a 2-0 win, Neymar said that records were unimportant.

"There is no fight to be Brazil's national team top scorer," Neymar was quoted as saying by FourFourTwo. "I think it's just numbers."

Neymar added that, in his eyes at least, he would never be better than the players he was competing with.

"They are my idols, those who were here before me, and when it comes to idols, I will never be better than them. So I respect each one of them, Romario, Zico, Ronaldo, Pele... because they are my idols. It's just numbers," Neymar said.

"I'm happy to help my team, to score goals, but I don't want to be better than them and neither will I be. Each one has their own history and knows their importance in the team. I'm very happy for the goals," the PSG frontman concluded.

Brazil Football Confederation officials were furious with Brazil star Neymar as he refused to meet with fans when they landed back after World Cup exit. Brazil lost their World Cup dream in a memorable quarter-final tie on Friday.

When the squad landed back in Rio de Janeiro's international airport on Sunday there was still a crowd of hundreds there to greet their heroes.  According to Spanish sports daily AS, Neymar opted to leave Tom Jobin Airport via the backdoor to avoid meeting supporters.

This incident caused outrage inside the corridors of power at the CBF, with the report claiming that officials are disappointed with the 26-year-old over his behaviour.

Even the media did not bother to cut Neymar any slack after the disappointing exit with Brazilian website UOL claiming that Neymar ‘destroyed his own image in Russia’. Criticism of the forward’s behaviour have come from many corners and while he always had people behind him due to his extravagant skill and youth, the World Cup exit has turned many against the Brazil star.

Members of Brazil’s national team were applauded by fans greeting their arrival at Rio. Supporters chanted and cheered the players on as they got off the airplane and appeared in the airport lounge.

Casemiro and Philippe Coutinho stopped to greet some of the supporters and also took pictures with them.

Paris Saint-Germain coach Thomas Tuchel pledged to keep his conversations with Neymar behind closed doors on Sunday as he weighs up how best to deal with the combustible star.

Neymar, the world's most expensive player, was widely lampooned for his play-acting at the World Cup, but Tuchel refused to reveal if he would raise it with the Brazilian.

"I'm young -- well, not so young -- but I know when I speak about Neymar there's a lot of potential to every word that I say," said the 44-year-old German.

"So the best thing when I speak to him about something that we do this in closed rooms."

Tuchel's arrival at PSG follows reports of discord between Neymar and fellow forwards Kylian Mbappe and Edinson Cavani, as well as ex-coach Unai Emery.

Tuchel said he needed a close relationship with Neymar, whose difficult World Cup ended when Brazil were stunned by Belgium in the quarter-finals.

"I'm very sure that I have a connection with him and I'm very sure that I need to have a connection with these kinds of players," Tuchel said.

"He's an outstanding player. He knows how to handle big victories, he also knows how to handle defeats, because that's the way sport is.

"It's always a big challenge to bounce back and I will help him with that. (But) what I talk about with him, when I talk with him, it's a secret that I keep."