*Brazil to face Croatia in Q-Final
Neymar struck on his return from injury as Brazil produced a magical display to thump South Korea 4-1 and surge into the last eight.
The five-time world champions blitzed their opponents with a bewitching first-half display where they scored four times in 36 minutes.
Vinicius Junior steered home a lovely opener before Neymar moved to within one of Pele’s all-time record goal-haul for his country with a confident penalty on 13 minutes.
Richarlison then scored one of the goals of the tournament when he juggled the ball with his head before surging on to a sensational return pass from Thiago Silva to slot home.
South Korea simply had no answer as they were continually exposed trying to deploy a positive game-plan and it was no surprise when Lucas Paqueta volleyed in the fourth.
Brazil took their foot off the gas in the second period but still went close through Raphinha before substitute Paik Seung-Ho struck a sensational consolation for the Koreans 13 minutes from time.
Brazil will now look ahead to Friday’s quarter-final clash with 2018 runners-up Croatia.
Earlier, Croatia reached the quarter-finals of the World Cup with a dramatic 3-1 penalty shoot-out win over Japan after a tense last-16 clash ended 1-1.
Mario Pasalic struck the winning penalty to send Croatia through after Ivan Perisic had pulled Croatia level in the 55th minute of normal time following Daizen Maeda’s opener for Japan just before the break.
“They gave us a hard game, but we knew that would be the case, it’s no coincidence that they beat Germany and Spain,” said Nikola Vlasic. “We had more chances and I think we deserved to win.”
Japan’s bid to reach the last eight for the first time in their history came to a crushing end after another display of the sort which saw them top Group E.
However, they could not claim one more big European scalp in the shape of the 2018 finalists and go home in the second round, as they did four years ago.
“The players showed us the future, a new era of Japanese football,” Moriyasu said. “We beat Germany, we beat Spain… If we take confidence in that, and if we think about overtaking these teams rather than just catching up, the future is bright.”