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NEYMAR HAPPY TO REUNITE WITH MESSI AT RUSSIA 2018

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Despite wide held belief that the suffocating stature of Argentina’s Lionel Messi in FC Barcelona was one of the principal reasons that Brazil’s Neymar had to leave the club for Paris Saint Germain some weeks ago, the Brazilian is reportedly saying that he was happy that his old club mate inspired his country to the World Cup.

Brazil’s 3-0 win over Chile also on Tuesday also offered assistance in seeing Argentina avoiding the play-off rout to the World Cup. Neymar played for 84 minutes in the Brazil defeat of Chile, a game some Brazilian fans had openly wanted Brazil to lose as a way of inflicting torture on Argentina.

“I’m happy to see a friend participate in such an important competition. I also have friends in the Chile team but we’re men. We have to play to win every game,” remarked Neymar. Brazil’s defeat of Chile means the likes of Alexis Sánchez and Arturo Vidal would not be present in Russia next summer.

Messi ensured Argentina’s participation in next year’s World Cup in Russia after scoring an outstanding hat-trick to help claim a vital 3-1 victory over Ecuador on Tuesday night.

Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

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