'Neymar is as good as Messi & Ronaldo' – Luiz Felipe Scolari

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Neymar

Brazil boss Luiz Felipe Scolari is confident that young starlet Neymar will deliver on his huge potential at next year’s World Cup at home stating that in his opinion, Neymar is up there on par with Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

After a slow start to life at Barcelona, the 21-year-old has started to wield greater influence with every passing game. The forward has 4 goals and 7 assists from his 11 appearances in La Liga, two of which came off the subs bench.

He has been even more impressive at the international level for Brazil scoring 27 times in 44 appearances and it is that sort of form that has Scolari believing his team can go all the way in next year’s showpiece tournament.

In their latest friendly, Brazil put five past Honduras at the weekend.

Scolari made the comparison to Ronaldo and Messi in response to a swipe that Jose Mourinho had taken at Neymar after the forward’s role in getting Scott Brown sent off in Barcelona’s recent Champions League meeting with Celtic.

“Maybe he [Mourinho] knows that Neymar is now at the same level as Cristiano and Messi and can really hurt his team,” Scolari told The Guardian.

Scolari is aware of the pressure of bringing home the World Cup on home soil, but the 65-year-old is confident that his boys are up for the challenge.

“The players know they will have to win the World Cup,” the former Chelsea boss continued.

“If we are not good enough we will lose but if we work hard, as we have been doing in the last months, I can see us challenging for the title.”

He also said that it would not be an easy job, as there were plenty of teams who’d be eager to put a roadblock in their plans.

“As the current European and world champions, Spain have to be considered the best in the world,” he said.

“I am also impressed by Germany and Argentina. It’s an open field for the World Cup.”

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