Brazil star Neymar has shared a series of emotional interactions that he had with his teammates on WhatsApp after several reports claimed that all was not right in the team. Brazil crashed out of the World Cup after a penalty shootout drama against Croatia on Friday. After a goalless 90 minutes, Neymar looked to have kept Brazil’s hopes of a sixth World Cup title alive by starting and finishing a brilliant move in extra-time to equal Pele‘s international scoring record of 77 goals for the country. But Croatia dragged themselves back into the game as Bruno Petkovic popped up to make it 1-1. Croatia prevailed 4-2 in the penalty shootout thereafter.
The PSG forward messaged his club team-mate Marquinhos, the screenshots of which he shared on Instagram stories, who had missed a crucial spot kick in the defeat. “How are you? I am here to tell you I am your fan. One penalty won’t change how I feel about you. I am always with you and you know that, I love you,” Neymar wrote.
Marquinhos replied: “Hey brother, I’ve been improving little by little, just giving time to recover from all this! And you? How are you? Thank you for the message and for thinking about me man, you are so amazing, I wanted everything to go well.
Neymar responded: ‘That’s my exact thinking, give time… more than anyone I know that EVERYTHING PASSES, good moments and bad…Stay strong, enjoy your family and remember that I’m not just a companion but a friend and I want you feeling well, I love you and we move on together.”
Neymar also shared the messages that he sent to Thiago Silva and Rodrygo after Brazil were knocked out. Â He wrote to Thiago: “We will have to move on man, unfortunately it’s like this! I wanted to give you this World Cup so much. You, Dani (Alves) and I all deserved it so much. But God has a purpose for us and knows everything.”
Silva, who playing in his fourth World Cup, replied: “Brother, it is harder than I imagined, for real! I can’t take it. I can’t believe we lost! I can’t believe it. Every time I remember I feel like crying. But I will be okay.”
To Rodrygo, Neymar wrote: “Little Bro! I am here to tell you that you are a baller… it’s an honour to be a part of your career, to hear you call me an idol of yours and to see you rising to be a historic player for Brazil! Penalties are only missed by those who step up to take one, I’ve missed many penalties in my career and have learned from all of them.
“But I never gave up, I always looked for better and fought to improve myself in everything. I like you a lot, not just for you as a player but the kind-hearted and good kid you are.”
Rodrygo thanked Neymar for reaching out. “Thank you my idol, for everything from the heart. I’m sorry for anything I caused and for delaying your dream, I hope you can continue with us [the national team], so we can win it together, obviously only if it is best for you [to continue]!! We are always together in this and thank you for the love.”
Neymar also published a statement on his Instagram stories. “I decided to expose (without their permission) the messages to see how much we wanted to win and how united we were,” Neymar wrote.
“These were some of the many messages I exchanged with the group. We are feeling very sad, but we have to be stronger to keep going and I am I’m sure that, with the support of all the fans, we’ll come back stronger. I’m Brazilian with a lot of pride, with a lot of love!”
With AFP inputs
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