The former Manchester United man who never fails to impress was the pick of the players as Portugal took on Northern Ireland in a crucial World Cup Qualification match.
The Seleção who were down to ten men following Helder Postiga’s red card just before half time, were close to tasting defeat at the hands of Michael O'Neill’s men before a brilliant second half hat-trick from Cristiano Ronaldo ensured that Portugal move one step closer to a berth in the World Cup in Brazil next year.
His antics also saw him achieve a remarkable feat as he became Portugal’s second all time top scorer surpassing Eusebio’s record of 41 goals and is now just four goals shy of being Portugal’s joint top scorer with former Paris Saint Germain striker Pauleta.
The victory ensured that Portugal maintain the top spot in Group F as they aim for an automatic qualification to the World Cup. Having rescued his side from an impending embarrassing defeat, the Portugal captain is now set to miss the trip to Gillette Stadium, as he nurses a tendonitis injury.
Portugal national team doctor Henrique Jones following Portugal’s 4-2 victory over Northern Ireland was quoted saying:
Ronaldo "has had a week of intense treatment, he made an enormous sacrifice and now he needs to rest,"
The absence of Cristiano Ronaldo will evidently leave a lot of fans disappointed, but a match involving two of the biggest footballing nations in the world will not be short of star players and new Barcelona recruit Neymar will be one of the players who will be aiming to make headlines on Wednesday.
The 21 year old has swiftly established himself as the face of Brazilian football and a lot will be expected from him as Brazil look forward to winning their sixth World Cup title as they host the biggest football event next year.
The new Barcelona man has seen his reputation rise astronomically over the years and his brilliant performances on the pitch instigated his move the Catalan club who paid a massive 57 million Euros for his services. Whereas the former Santos man is still adjusting to life in Spain and is yet to fully expose his talents in La Liga, things are very different on the international stage where he is starting to take the world by storm.
Neymar is a regular name on the Brazilian score sheet and his four goals including one in the final against Spain in the Confederations Cup earlier in the summer were integral in guiding Brazil to their fourth Confederations Cup title. In addition to his excellent goal scoring skills, Neymar is developing himself as a team player and notches up assists for his teammates from time to time as well.
His move to Barcelona will allow him to learn from the very best which will surely have a positive impact on his game. His momentous transfer fee raised some eyebrows, with opinions still divided on the youngster. But so far the Brazilian has kept his critics quiet by putting up match winning performances whenever he is called upon.
He was Brazil’s star player as they romped past a helpless Australian side on Saturday, his goal and two assists helped Brazil in their 6-0 mauling of the socceroos.
The Portugal defence found it hard to contain the Irish attack which can hardly be described as the best in the world and it is likely that Neymar will cause a lot of menace in the Portugal half. In the absence of Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar will be vying to take his chances and put up another star performance to send out a stern message to his critics.
