It was a sensational moment for the samba boys has they mauled the Honduras team 6-0.
Neymar sent the Brazil team to the road to final as he scored the first goal 14 seconds of the first 45 minutes.
New Manchester City recruit, Gabriel Jesus also scored twice before half-time and goals from Marquinhos, Luan and a Neymar penalty wrapped up a 6-0 semi-final rout of Honduras.
Barcelona’s Vice-President for economics, Susana Monje, puts the cost of the signing of Neymar at €19.3m.
Sport notes Monje explained that figure is arrived at by €17.3m paid to Santos for the rights to the forward and a further €2m for being a finalist to win the Ballon d’Or, and other payments regarding his transfer are considered part of his salary.
“It was an exceptional operation for a Ballon d’Or finalist with a great future. I also want to congratulate the player for choosing Barca, since we know he had offers from other clubs,” Monje added.
“I don’t agree with figures given at other times. I don’t know where [a reported fee of] €86m came from. It’s apples and oranges.”
Barcelona star, Neymar will lead Brazil as one of the Selecao’s three over-23 players at the 2016 Olympic Games.
National team coach, Dunga has long coveted his skipper for the tournament, which will be played for the first time on Brazilian soil in Rio de Janeiro.
And sources close to Neymar have confirmed to Goal that the forward will be released by Barcelona to take part in the Games, the only major title the nation have never lifted.
Last week Dunga and Brazil coordinator Gilmar Rinaldi met in Spain with directors and coaches of the Catalan side, in order to negotiate Neymar’s availability in August.
Neymar has long held that his wish is to fly the flag for the Selecao in Rio, and Barcelona have agreed to let their star play in the Olympics.
Brazil’s thoughts will now turn to the Copa America centenary tournament in June, with the captain obliged to play in the United States under FIFA regulations unless Dunga declines to select him.
Chile star Alexis Sanchez is relishing the opportunity of taking on Neymar when the Copa America hosts meet Brazil at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium.
The South American rivals go head-to-head in a Brasil Global Tour friendly international at Alexis’ club home in London on Sunday, March 29.
The match is the first meeting between the two teams since their World Cup 2014 last-16 clash, which Brazil edged on penalties following an action-packed 1-1 draw.
And Alexis, who made the move to Arsenal from Barcelona last summer, is eagerly anticipating the showpiece and the reunion with his former Camp Nou colleague.
“I’m so excited and honoured to be playing for the national team of Chile, against our great rivals Brazil, in front of the incredible Arsenal fans at Emirates Stadium,” Alexis told his club’s official website.
“I also look forward to playing against my good friend Neymar and welcoming him and the rest of the Brazil team to Emirates Stadium in March.
“Matches between Brazil and Chile are always exciting encounters, and for me, to play this game at Emirates Stadium will make the match even more special.”
Ticket Prices from £15 concessions and £30 for adults. Tickets will go on General Sale at 3pm on Friday, February 6, 2015 (booking fees apply).
For full ticket details, including price categories, please visit the Arsenal website.
The prosecutors believe that Neymar cost in excess of the 57 million euros ($64.3 million, £42.7 million) declared to the Spanish tax man.
Spanish public prosecutors have asked for Barcelona and their former president Sandro Rosell to be tried for two charges of tax fraud committed in the signing of Brazilian star Neymar.
Meanwhile, prosecutors have also asked for the investigation of current Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu and the club on an extra tax charge in 2014, which could rise to 2.85 million euros.
In a judicial file released on Monday, prosecutor Jose Perals Calleja suggests that Rosell and Barca declared an inferior fee to that which they paid for Neymar in 2013.
The prosecutors believe that Neymar cost in excess of the 57 million euros ($64.3 million, £42.7 million) declared to the Spanish tax man.
They cite the figure at a cost of 82,743,485 euros divided into sperate contracts that secured the signing.
According to the calculations of the Spanish tax authorities, Barcelona owe a total of 12,148,696 million euros in tax on the deal, which would see the overall cost of the operation rise to 94.8 million euros.
Rosell resigned as president over the affair just over a year ago when a complaint brought by one of the club’s members for misappropriation of funds was taken to court.
In his testimony before a judge on the case in July of 2004, Rosell insisted that Neymar cost the club 57 million euros, 17 of which went to his former club Santos and 40 million paid to N&N, a company owned by the player’s father.
However, following Rosell’s resignation, Barcelona also confirmed a number of extra agreements including a 10 million euro signing bonus for the player and scouting and collaborative agreements between the two clubs taking the total to 86.2 million euros.
In February of last year, the club announced that they had made a voluntary payment of 13.5 million euros to the Spanish tax authorities regarding the transfer.
A number of pundits did not feel that the Barcelona ace should have been voted the top player in Brazil this summer but the Selecao starlet has jumped to his club-mate’s defence
Neymar has attempted to defuse the controversy over Lionel Messi’s Golden Ball triumph in Brazil by arguing that the Argentina captain was “at least” among the top three players at the World Cup.
Messi led his country all the way to the final in Rio de Janeiro, where they were edged 1-0 after extra-time by Germany.
The 27-year-old was presented with the Golden Ball for the tournament’s best player after the match, much to the bemusement of many football fans and pundits, with Argentine icon Diego Maradona even claiming that it had been down to “some marketing plan”.
Neymar, though, believes that Messi, who failed to score in the knockout stages, did enough in Brazil to at least mark himself out as a legitimate contender for the accolade.
“I’m a huge Messi fan, as a player and as a person,” the Selecao starlet said of his Barcelona team-mate during an interview with Rede Globo’s ‘Fantastico’.
“I don’t know whether it was fair or not but, for me, he was one of the best players in World Cup.
“At least in the top three, anyway. I think [Germany midfielder Bastian] Schweinsteiger and [Netherlands attacker Arjen] Robben were also among the top three.”
Neymar, of course, saw his tournament ended by a fractured vertebra sustained in his country’s quarter-final win over Colombia and then had to sit on helpless as Brazil suffered a humiliating last-four hammering at the hands of Germany.
The inquest into the Selecao’s capitulation is ongoing but Neymar does not believe that Luiz Felipe Scolari, who has since resigned, should have been made the scapegoat for what he believes was a cultural failing.
The Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) threatened to report doctors for recommending Neymar play in the FIFA World Cup final.
Neymar fractured a vertebra in Brazil’s 2-1 quarter-final win over Colombia on Friday when Juan Camilo Zuniga injured the forward in the back in the second half.
While the 22-year-old Brazilian was ruled out of the rest of the World Cup within a couple of hours of the quarter-final in Fortaleza, reports emerged on Sunday that Neymar could play in the tournament decider, if Brazil defeated Germany in their semi-final.
But CBF head doctor Jose Luiz Runco strenuously denied Neymar could be fit for the final, while the Brazilian governing body declared they would report any doctors that had recommended pain-killing injections for breaching medical ethics.
Reports in the Brazilian media suggested the doctors of Santos – Neymar’s former club – had told both the player and his family that he could recover quickly enough to play in the final at the Maracana.
But Runco dismissed those suggestions on Monday.
“There is absolutely no chance that Neymar will play,” Runco told ESPN.
“Right now, Neymar has a stable injury to his spinal column, which needs bone healing.
“If the injury received any further impact it could become unstable, which would cause problems both to Neymar the player and the human being.”
Neymar has told Brazilfans that the national team will still win the World Cup despite his injury-enforced absence.
The iconic star was stretchered off in the final moments of the Selecao’s 2-1 quarter-final win over Colombia on Friday night and has been diagnosed with a broken vertebrae, which will keep him out for four to six weeks.
But while the entire country comes to terms with his absence from the semi-final against Germany on Tuesday, the player has sent a teary-eyed video message in which he insists Brazil can still go on to win the World Cup.
“Brazilian people, players, staff, fans. This is a hard moment, and I don’t have the words to define what’s going through my head and my heart,” Neymar told the fans via CBF TV.
“I just want to be back as fast as possible, when everyone least expects. I want to say thank you for the support, the love that everyone has shown for me, for all the messages.
He continued: “I’d like to tell you all that my dream is not over. It was interrupted, but it goes on. My dream is to be champion.
“My dream was also to play in a World Cup final. But it won’t happen this time. I’m sure that they [Brazil] will win and be champions. And I’ll be there, with them.
“And us, Brazilians, will all be celebrating this.”
Luis Felipe Scolari’s men face Germany in Belo Horizonte on Tuesday for a place in the final, with kick-off at 22:00CET.
• Ahmed Musa among conversion rated players
Super Eagles of Nigeria were giving some to cheer about when Nigeria forward Emmanuel Emenike was named among the best dribblers at the on-going 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.
Emenike made 29 dribbles during the Super Eagles campaign in the tournament which ended in the second round with a 2-0 defeat to France.
However, Argentina meastro Lionel Messi tops the chart with 41 dribbles, Brazilian forward, Neymar Da Silva Junior was also listed second in the chart with 36 dribbles, Alexis Sanchez of Chile listed third with 35 dribbles, Angel Di Maria listed fourth with 34 dribbles.
Netherlands wideman Arjen Robben placed sixth on the log with 25 dribbles.
Belgium whiz-kid Eden Hazard also made the list with 24 dribbles.
Equally, South Korea and Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen forward Heung-Min Son also got mentioned as the eighth player on the list, while Kenya-Belgium born Divock Origi came last with 20 dribbles.
However, Super Eagles winger Ahmed Musa listed among the conversion rated players at the on-going world most prestigious tournament.
The listed players are:
James Rodriguez, Colombia 62.5 %
Bryan Ruiz Costa Rica, 40.1%
Wilfried Bony Cote D’Ivoire 40.1%
Robin Van Persie, Netherlands, 37.6%
Enner Valencia Ecuador, 37.6%
Neymar Da Silva Junior, Brazil 36.4%
Thomas Muller, Germany 36.4%
Luis Suarez, Uruguay 33.4%
Ahmed Musa, Nigeria 33.4%
Arjen Robben, Netherlands 33.4%
…Ferguson, Scolari, Mourinho for coach award
FIFA and France Football on Tuesday revealed the names for the men’s Player of the Year and Coach of the Year awards.
The final decisions, according to fifa.com will be made by the captains and head coaches of the men’s national teams as well as by international media representatives selected by France Football.
The winners of all of the awards will be revealed at the FIFA Ballon d’Or as part of a televised show at the Zurich Kongresshaus on January 13 2014, during which the FIFA FIFPro World XI, the FIFA Puskás Award – for the most beautiful goal of the year – the FIFA Presidential Award and the FIFA Fair Play Award will also be presented.
The list of 23 male candidates has been drawn up by football experts from the FIFA Football Committee and by a group of experts from France Football. The list of ten coaches has been drawn up by the Committee for Women’s Football and FIFA Women’s World Cup and by the FIFA Football Committee, as well as by a group of experts from France Football.
In early December , FIFA and France Football will announce the names of the three men and three women, as well as the three coaches for women’s football and three coaches for men’s football, who have received the most votes (without unveiling the winners).
The three nominees for the FIFA Puskás Award and the FIFA FIFPro World XI shortlist for the best forwards, goalkeepers, defenders and midfielders will also be unveiled in early December.
Men’s shortlists:
Gareth Bale (Wales), Edinson Cavani (Uruguay), Radamel Falcao (Colombia), Eden Hazard (Belgium), Zlatan Ibrahimović (Sweden), Andrés Iniesta (Spain), Philipp Lahm (Germany), Robert Lewandowski (Poland), Lionel Messi (Argentina), Thomas Müller (Germany), Manuel Neuer (Germany), Neymar (Brazil), Mesut Özil (Germany), Andrea Pirlo (Italy), Franck Ribéry (France), Arjen Robben (Netherlands), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany), Luis Suárez (Uruguay), Thiago Silva (Brazil), Yaya Touré (Côte d’Ivoire), Robin Van Persie (Netherlands) and Xavi (Spain).
Coaches’ shortlists:
Carlo Ancelotti (Italy/Paris Saint-Germain FC/Real Madrid CF), Rafael Benítez (Spain/Chelsea FC/SSC Napoli), Antonio Conte (Italy/Juventus), Vicente Del Bosque (Spain/Spain national team), Sir Alex Ferguson (Scotland/Manchester United FC former coach), Jupp Heynckes (Germany/FC Bayern München former coach), Jürgen Klopp (Germany/Borussia Dortmund), José Mourinho (Portugal/Real Madrid CF/Chelsea FC), Luiz Felipe Scolari (Brazil/Brazil national team) and Arsène Wenger (France/Arsenal FC).