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Daily Record
Daily Record
Sport
Gabriel McKay

Joe Aribo faces Neymar as Rangers star steps up to top level against Brazil

Rangers midfielder Joe Aribo will start for Nigeria in this afternoon's friendly with Brazil , coming up against the likes of Neymar and Roberto Firmino.

The 23-year-old is eligible to play for England, but made his debut for the Super Eagles last month, scoring against Ukraine in Dnipro.

That wasn't a competitive match so the Rangers man could still switch allegiances in the future, but he's kept his place in the starting line-up for today's glamour friendly with Brazil.

Joe Aribo in action (Rangers FC/Press Association Images)

That means he'll be facing some global superstars, including the world's most expensive player, Neymar .

That will be a big boost for Aribo, who spoke of his excitement about facing the Paris Saint-Germain forward last month.

"Games don’t come much bigger than Brazil and we know they’ve got a lot of stars like Neymar.

"That’s the type of opponents I want to be playing against and it would be good to swap a jersey with one of those superstars.

“I’ll see so many stars and I’ll take a moment to realise that’s what I’ve been dreaming of.

“Everyone in my generation loved players like Ronaldinho and he played with some of the players in this team now so it’s like ‘wow’. I didn’t think international recognition would come so soon but it shows the stature of Rangers and why it was a good decision to come here."

Big names such as Dani Alves, Gabriel Jesus and Roberto Firmino are also in the Selecao starting XI, while Aribo will be joined by Arsenal's Alex Iwobi and Wilfried Ndidi of Leicester City.

Brazil have made changes for the match, with Juventus left-back Alex Sandro dropping out so Renan Lodi can make his first start.

Lodi said: "I'm sure I will do my job very well.

"What Tite asked was to have peace of mind, to rotate the ball between the two sides and look for the triangles down the wings."

The game is being played in Singapore and kicks off at 13.00 UK time.

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