Neymar registered a goal and two assists in Santos’ 3-0 win over Inter de Limeira on Sunday in Limeira, Brazil. Photo by Guilherme Dionizio/EPA-EFE
Neymar Jr. irked hostile fans and used their jeers as fuel to carry Santos to a win over Inter de Limeira, requesting the fans to sing louder before scoring off a corner kick for the first time of his career.
The sequence occurred in the 27th minute of the 3-0 victory Sunday in Limeira, Brazil. The score was Neymar’s second since rejoining the club, where he made his senior career debut in 2009, Advertisement
“I went to take the corner and they provoked me,” Neymar said. “I asked them to sing louder, I struck the ball and got an assist. Then, the second time I went there [to the corner] and they did it again.
“So I thought to myself: ‘Now I’m the one who’s going to score the goal.'”
Fellow forward Tiquinho scored the first goal of the match with a header off a Neymar corner kick in the ninth minute. Neymar doubled the Santos lead with his first career Olimpico — a goal scored directly from a corner kick — in the 27th minute.
He took several steps forward from the left corner before smacking the shot with his right boot. The ball sailed from right to left before hitting the right post and bouncing in behind goalie Igo Gabriel. Advertisement
Neymar, who re-signed with Santos last month, then assisted Tiquinho, for a second time, in the 32nd minute. The Brazilian soccer icon scored two goals and logged three assists through his first six appearances this season with Santos.
He scored once over just seven appearances during his injury-ridden spell with Saudi Pro League club Al-Hilal.
Santos will face Bragantino in a Paulista Serie A1 quarterfinal Saturday in Santos. They will take on Vasco da Gama in a Campeonato Brasileiro Serie A match March 29 in Rio de Janeiro.
