Defoe dreams of matching Barnes

Jermain Defoe hopes to emulate John Barnes’ famous performance at the Maracana when England play Brazil on Sunday.

Barnes scored a wonder goal against Brazil at the famous Rio de Janeiro stadium in 1984, dribbling from inside his own half, and Tottenham Hotspur striker Defoe has said he dreams of providing such a moment during the friendly on Sunday.

“That was an unbelievable goal,” Defoe told the Daily Mirror.

“The fact that we’re still talking about it nearly 30 years later tells you how good a goal it was.

“Who knows? Maybe one of us can score one like it on Sunday. If you can score a goal like that against them, make that sort of impact, it will be talked about for ever.

“If there is a single team in international football you’d want to play against it’s Brazil – even more so in Rio.”

Defoe would become only the 21st player to score 20 goals for England if he were to find the back of the net against Brazil, joining the likes of Geoff Hurst, Alan Shearer and Nat Lofthouse on the list.

And the striker, who is struggling with an Achilles injury ahead of the game, feels reaching the target against Brazil would be an impressive achievement.

“At the moment, I’ve got 19 goals. If I can get that goal and get to 20, it will be a great feeling. I know that there are only so many strikers who’ve done it, so to join them would be a big feeling for me and a big achievement,” he said.

“If I could get to 20 for my country, I’d feel that was a great achievement. It would be fantastic for me and I would be really proud of that. There have been some great players who haven’t got there and some really big ones who have.”