Brazil Elimination 'Saddest Moment Of My Career' Says Neymar
Talisman Neymar said it was "difficult to find the strength to want to play football again" after Brazil's exit from the World Cup.
Neymar described Brazil's World Cup exit at the quarter-final stage as "the saddest moment" of his career.
In his first social media comments following the defeat, Neymar posted a message on his Instagram account, saying: "I can say that it is the saddest moment of my career.
"The pain is very great because we knew we could get there, we knew we had the conditions to go further, to make history, but it was not this time."
Posso dizer que é o momento mais triste da minha carreira, a dor é muito grande porque sabíamos que poderíamos chegar, sabíamos que tínhamos condições de irmos mais além, de fazer história .. mas não foi dessa vez. Difícil encontrar forças pra querer voltar a jogar futebol, mas tenho certeza que Deus me dará força suficiente pra enfrentar qualquer coisa, por isso nunca deixarei de te agradecer Deus, até mesmo na derrota... porque eu sei que o teu caminho é muito melhor do que o meu 🙏🏽❤️ Muito feliz em fazer parte desse time, estou orgulhoso de todos, interromperam nosso sonho mas não tiraram da nossa cabeça e nem dos nossos corações 🙏🏽❤️ A post shared by Nj 🇧🇷 👻 neymarjr (@neymarjr) on Jul 7, 2018 at 7:24am PDT
Neymar, who only just recovered from a metatarsal injury in time to play in Russia, spoke of his pride in his team-mates, who failed to emulate Brazil's achievement of reaching the semi-finals in 2014.
He admitted the experience had left him deflated, saying: "Difficult to find the strength to want to play football again, but I'm sure God will give me enough strength to face anything, so I'll never stop thanking God, even in defeat, because I know that your way is much better than mine.
"Very happy to be part of this team, I am proud of all, interrupted our dream but they did not get out of our head and neither of our hearts."