Brazil and Croatia were locked at 1-1 after extra time and then Rodrygo and Marquinhos failed to score from the penalty spot as Croatia reached the last four
But it seemed they, and Neymar in particular, had their moment shortly before the additional period’s midway point. For once a rat-a-tat of passes, first with Rodrygo and then with Lucas Paquetá, paid off and their talisman’s sublime angled finish felt like a defining image of the winter.
Croatia had six men around the box to Brazil’s five and the move ended with Mislav Orsic centring from the left for his fellow substitute and Dinamo Zagreb teammate, Bruno Petkovic, to sweep in via a deflection. They had looked out on their feet but Brazil are not the first to discover they are routinely at their most lethal in such circumstances.
At 37 he arguably topped it here: while he had been replaced in the 99th minute against Japan, he could be seen skipping towards Brazil’s penalty area as if the previous exchanges had been an irrelevance just as the clock reached three digits. Modric, Marcelo Brozovic and Mateo Kovacic may lack dynamic attacking options ahead of them but watching them run more than a third of the pitch between them, the old master calling the shots, was a thrill on its own.
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