Neymar was in a generous mood after picking up the Player of the Match award for Brazil’s 4-1 World Cup win against South Korea on Monday night. The PSG forward had only recently returned to training after being sidelined with an ankle injury just one game into this fall’s tournament.

There were reports that Neymar would struggle to return in time to finish the tournament, but he made his comeback in style on Monday evening, scoring from the penalty spot in an emphatic win for Brazil.

David Faltas (9) commented, “I’m honestly surprised he played as well as he did. I definitely thought that the injury would get in the way, and he would not be able to withstand playing for as long as he did.”

Vinicius Junior scored the first goal against the Koreans. Seven minutes later, Neymar scored again from the penalty spot, bringing his total for his country to 76 goals. Soon after, Richarlison put Brazil up 3-0, but that was not the end of the first half, as Lucas Paqueta added another goal just before halftime, leaving South Korea stunned. This was the first time five-time champion Brazil scored four goals in a knockout game since the 1998 FIFA World Cup.

South Korea worked hard in the second half to relieve the pressure, but Paik Seung-solo ho’s goal in the 76th minute did not hurt Brazil.

“First of all, I would like to say thank God for the strength I have. To be back on the pitch, to be able to train and to be able to do everything I needed to do to be on the pitch again. I am very happy to be back in the field of play, I am happy to have played well. Being called the player of the match is something somewhat difficult because everyone played well. We needed to commend all the players and we are very happy with our performance. That’s what we wanted. We wanted to move to the next round, we wanted to win and that’s what we got.”- Neymar Jr.

Brazil then moved on to the quarterfinals where they played Croatia. Against our highest hopes, Brazil unfortunately lost to Croatia due to penalties with a tie of 1-1 and 4-2 after the penalty shootout meaning Brazil is officially out of the World Cup. Despite Brazil’s loss, their team played hard in all their games and were fun to watch as they advanced through the tournament.