Bittersweet memories for Neymar and Messi in Tuesday’s 2026 World Cup qualifier match

Oct 18, 2023 - 08:56

Two on and off-the-field friends Neymar and Messi, whose friendship started at Barcelona and moved to PSG, left the field on Tuesday with bittersweet memories.

While Messi scored a brace against Peru, Neymar left the field in tears after sustaining an apparent knee injury against Uruguay.

He was stretchered off the pitch after picking up what appeared to be a serious knee injury.

The 31-year-old forward tripped in an innocuous-looking incident in Brazil’s World Cup qualifier against Uruguay, which Brazil went on to lose 2-0. Neymar went down shortly before halftime and was immediately surrounded by teammates.

He left the field on a stretcher, in tears. Richarlison came on to replace the man who he had described as his hero.

Given his age and fitness problems, this latest issue could pose a real threat to the Brazilian’s ability to play at the highest level. The team’s medical staff have not yet released any information on the extent of the injury.

It’s difficult to assess the extent of Neymar’s issue before an official statement is released, but the early signs do not look good for the former Paris Saint-Germain forward.

Neymar went down after a slight collision with a Uruguayan player and immediately called for medical assistance. Knee injuries of that severity are often related to the anterior cruciate ligament, also known as the ‘ACL’.

They are notoriously hard to predict but ACL injuries are among the most serious that a soccer player can sustain. For Neymar, a player who relies on his ability to quickly change direction, a serious ACL injury would be a major blow.

Elsewhere, Messi made the difference for his team in the first half, with the World Cup holders in control of the vast majority of the 90 minutes, barring a few isolated moments of danger for the hosts.

Abram should arguably have put Peru ahead early on after a loose ball broke to him in the box, while Guerrero’s superb long-range effort had to be tipped over by Emi Martínez. However, Argentina went from strength to strength as the first half went on and turned their superiority into a two-goal half-time lead, with Messi inevitably at the heart of everything good they did.

His link-up play with Álvarez and Fernández in particular was a key feature of the first half, second only to his clinical finishing. The Argentina captain swept home Nico González’s pass after half an hour after Peru had carelessly lost possession, before calmly slotting a second past Gallese with half-time approaching.

Peru made a bright start to the second period without being overly threatening, but quickly faded and allowed their opponents to see out the game with relative ease.

Only a late header from Tapia threatened the visiting goal, with Argentina more likely to add to their advantage at the other end, even though they didn’t look especially interested in doing so. Messi was controversially denied a hat-trick by an offside call and also saw a low effort saved after a free-flowing move involving Álvarez and González.

There would be no third goal for Messi or Argentina, but that’s now four wins out of four and four clean sheets, which move them five points clear in the qualification standings. And the