Neymar always makes the difference – Godin defends Uruguay showing against Brazil

Neymar will find a way to be effective whatever tactics the opposition use, according to Uruguay captain Diego Godin.

The Barcelona superstar scored a sumptuous lob as Brazil ran out 4-1 winners in Montevideo on Thursday, continuing their domination of the CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying section.

Paulinho’s hat-trick made for a chastening evening for the hosts, who opened the scoring through an early Edinson Cavani penalty.

Atletico Madrid centre-back Godin was left to reflect on the efforts of a familiar foe and refused to apportion blame to his defensive colleagues.

“I think we defended really well,” he told reporters. “They really gave their 100 per cent, they handled it really well.

“It’s true that Neymar really makes a difference. It doesn’t matter if you have one or two players going at him, he makes a difference.

“He makes that at every game, in Barcelona also, never mind what tactic you use. It’s his virtue and the [Brazil] team was strong.

“We did what we expected, what we were asked to do and we couldn’t make anything out of it.”

Brazil are now seven points clear at the top of the group, with Uruguay in second and only three points ahead of Chile in sixth as victories for Argentina and Colombia bunched up the chasing pack.

#URUBRA | @CBF_Futebol venció 4-1 a @Uruguay por la 13a fecha de las Eliminatorias en el Estadio Centenario. https://t.co/PJY2qdjLgA pic.twitter.com/f9MWyQf4SI

— Selección Uruguaya (@Uruguay) March 24, 2017