The most important goal in Neymar Jr’s short career

Neymar Jr’s rise to one of soccer’s greatest players in such a short time and at such a young age is remarkable. At the 2017 FIFA Awards, Neymar was third behind Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, arguably two of soccer’s greatest players of all-time. Some of his goals stand out as those that cemented his place as one of the greats in peoples minds. Here are some of those goals:

2016 Summer Olympics

Most fans of Neymar point to his goal at the 2016 Summer Olympics final against Germany as probably his most important and outstanding goal. Due to commitments to his club, Barcelona, Neymar had to choose between representing Brazil at the Copa América or the Olympics. In a joint decision with the Brazilian Football Federation, Neymar chose the Olympics. Brazil was fresh from a humiliating loss to Germany in 2014, and his final penalty gave the Brazilians the revenge they craved on home soil.

2011 Copa Libertadores

Another important goal in his career was the goal that secured Santos its first since the days of Pele. There was a lot of hype about Neymar’s potential, and following a failure to make good on that potential with Brazil in the 2011 Copa América, he needed to prove himself to his fans and the rest of the world. There was no better way to do it than scoring six goals for the Santos Copa Libertadores campaign.

Neymar has shown time and again that whether it’s for club or country, he can deliver when he needs to the most. The question now is if he can go on to become the undisputed greatest player of his generation.