Neymar leapfrogs Ronaldo to become Brazil’s second highest goalscorer

Neymar’s hat-trick inspired Brazil to a superb comeback win over Peru in a World Cup qualifier on Tuesday night. The Copa America champions found themselves 1-0 down after just six minutes on the clock after a superb volley from Andre Carillo, but Neymar levelled the proceedings with a penalty he had won, before the half-an-hour mark.

Renato Tapia helped Los Incas regain the lead in the 59th minute with a slightly deflected effort which wrong-footed goalkeeper Weverton, but their lead stood for only five minutes before Richarlison equalised for the visitors after his Merseyside rival Robert Firmino found him with an accurate header.

In the 83rd minute, Tite’s side finally led in the World Cup qualifier with another coolly slotted penalty from Neymar, which was this time won by Everton Ribeiro. Things only became worse for Peru thereafter as unused goalkeeper Carlos Caceda was red carded in the 86th minute.

Prior to stoppage time, Peru went one man down on the playing field after centre-back Carlos Zambrano was handed his marching orders for elbowing Richarlison in the face. Neymar put the result to bed in the fourth minute of injury time with a simple tap-in.

Neymar with a fourth career hat-trick for Selecao has now leapfrogged Ronaldo Nazario (62) to become second in the all-time scorers list for the nation with 64 goals. He is now only behind the legendary Pele, who scored for the South American giants on 77 occasions.

At the age of just 28, Neymar is currently going through the prime of his career and he should be fancied to become the all-time leading goalscorer for Brazil in the next few years. Neymar will now return to Paris Saint-Germain, who are scheduled to face Nimes on the road on Friday night.

With the short turnover period, it won’t come as a surprise if he features on the bench despite the fact that Les Parisiens will be missing numerous first-team stars including Julian Draxler, Marquinhos, Marco Verratti, Mauro Icardi, Layvin Kurzawa and Angel di Maria due to multiple reasons.

Stats from Transfermarkt.com