Brazil boss Tite downplays comparisons between Neymar and two Brazilian legends

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Neymar capped off yet another dazzling performance for the Brazilian national team during its 2021 Copa America opener against Venezuela.

With two goal involvements and seven goal-scoring chances created, Venezuelan players simply had no answer for the Paris Saint-Germain star.

Amid Neymar’s growing success with the Brazilian national team, many have begun to question just where the forward ranks among the greatest players to ever feature for the Seleção, which includes the likes of Ronaldo and Romario.

While Neymar is yet to win a major international trophy, he does currently sit at 67 career international goals, which ranks second all-time in Brazilian national team history behind Pele’s 77 goals.

For Brazilian national team manager Tite, he is not necessarily intrigued with comparing the stars of today to the legends of the past.

As his comments were relayed by TyC Sports following Brazil’s statement win over Venezuela, Tite downplayed such comparisons by instead calling for respect to each era of the Seleção.

“Neymar has unpredictable technical virtues, but it is an injustice to compare him with other generations,” Tite said.

“Romario, Ronaldo and Neymar are extraordinary, but they belong to different times. We must be careful with comparisons.”

Neymar does have an Olympic goal medal along with a FIFA Confederations Cup win. Still, the Ligue 1 superstar has not yet reached the top of the mountain with either a World Cup or Copa America win.

Brazil is tabbed by many as the overwhelming favourites in this year’s Copa America.

A win in this tournament for Neymar would further establish his legacy as one of the most talented players in the storied history of the Seleção.

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