Football
Tom Marshall, Mexico correspondent 6y

Neymar likes to exaggerate fouls - Mexico captain Andres Guardado

MOSCOW -- Mexico captain Andres Guardado has urged officials to keep a keen eye on Brazil forward Neymar "because he likes to exaggerate fouls."

Mexico face Brazil in a round-of-16 clash in Samara on Monday, and Guardado issued his appeal amid criticism of Neymar for going to ground easily during the tournament.

"We all know Neymar," the midfielder told a news conference on Friday. "It's not up to me or us to judge, but the referees and FIFA.

"Now they have VAR [Video Assistant Referees], they have to watch his style of play and the referee needs to be on top of it because we know he likes to exaggerate fouls, he likes to drop to the floor a lot.

"But I repeat, it is his style of play and those who have to judge and in a way put an end to it are the officials, not us."

Real Betis midfielder Guardado said El Tri could get past Brazil despite never having defeated them at a World Cup.

"We'd never beaten Germany in a World Cup either, and we did it in this one," he said. "We're here to make history and it is in our hands.

"We'll do everything possible because we all know that statistics don't play when the game starts."

World Cup 2018 must-reads

- Make your daily picks with ESPN FC Match Predictor 2018!

- World Cup fixtures, results and coverage

- Southgate resting England's best players is a gamble that will only pay off by beating Colombia

- Maradona, Neuer on the wing and Ronaldo free kicks: World Cup 2018 good, bad, ugly and bizarre so far

- World Cup faces: Check out some of the best fan pictures so far


Guardado is keen for Mexico to put their 3-0 defeat to Sweden in the final group game behind them as they bid to reach a first World Cup quarterfinal outside their own country.

"We have to leave to one side everything we did wrong against Sweden and analyse everything positive we can to take into this game, which many of my teammates have said is the game of our lives," he said.

Meanwhile, Thiago Silva has addressed his recent reaction to Neymar yelling at him for giving the ball back to Costa Rica during the 2-0 World Cup group stage win.

Speaking with Le Parisien, the PSG captain clarified that he was "joking" when he told Globo Esporte that he was "saddened" by his club and international teammate's behaviour towards him.

RMC Sport reported that the pair had made up after the match, but Silva insisted that it was never as big a deal as was made out.

"People talk a lot," he said. "However, I never said anything bad about Neymar -- I made a joke and journalists have turned it into a negative."

Silva scored from a second half Neymar corner as Brazil beat Serbia 2-0 to finish top of Group E.

ESPN FC's Jonathan Johnson contributed to this report.

^ Back to Top ^