Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Tom Blow

Neymar slammed by fans for Brazil penalty decision in World Cup catastrophe

Neymar has been criticised on social media for not taking a penalty during Brazil's shootout defeat to Croatia at the World Cup on Friday.

The pre-tournament favourites were knocked out by the Croatians at the Education City Stadium after Rodrygo and Marquinhos missed from the spot. Croatia scored all four of their penalties and will now face either the Netherlands or Argentina in the semi-finals.

Neymar is Brazil's primary penalty taker - scoring from the spot against South Korea in the last 16 - and probably would've taken their fifth attempt in the shootout. Yet many fans believe he should've taken Brazil's fourth penalty with the game on the line.

"I will never understand why a team's best penalty taker will take the fifth penalty," tweeted one fan. "Neymar should've taken the first one, it would've changed the shootout for them."

That's a fair argument considering Brazil missed their first and final penalties in the shootout. Another fan added: "Neymar in tears - always a horrible sight for a football fan. I will always stand by this take, though, that the best player should take the first penalty."

Rio Ferdinand also waded into the debate on Twitter. He wrote: "Lads in the studio [BBC pundits] all speaking on how your best penalty taker can’t be left until last... he [the fifth taker] never takes a pen half the time... Neymar now left thinking what if."

Neymar was in tears after Brazil's shootout defeat (Getty Images)

Do you think Neymar should've taken the first penalty in Brazil's shootout defeat? Let us know in the comments below!

Neymar thought he had won Friday's game after scoring a superb goal just before half-time in extra-time, but Dinamo Zagreb forward Bruno Petkovic equalised with four minutes remaining to stun the Selecao and send the game to penalties.

It's not the first time Neymar has waited to take a penalty. Brazil's World Cup tie against Chile in 2014 was also decided by a shootout, with Neymar taking the fifth and final spot kick. And he took the last penalty in the win against Germany in the 2016 Olympics final.

"The fifth penalty is the decisive one," Brazil boss Tite told reporters. "There is more pressure and the players who are best prepared should take that penalty kick. The only disorganisation in our team was that we did not score more than one goal during the game."

Yet Croatia manager Zlatko Dalic simply added: "I would have used him [Neymar]."

Jurgen Klinsmann told the BBC : "Over the last years, you always saw the best penalty taker take the first one - set the tone! Don't keep him for the fifth because he might not get the chance... for me, Neymar would've been the number one penalty taker."

Croatia have now won back-to-back shootouts at the World Cup after defeating Japan in the last 16. Remarkably, Zlatko Dalic's side have won just one of their five games at the tournament in normal time. They finished second behind Morocco in Group F.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.