RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – AUGUST 20: Neymar of Brazil celebrates scoring the winning penalty in the penalty shoot out during the Men’s Football Final between Brazil and Germany at the Maracana Stadium on Day 15 of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games on August 20, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)

Source: Time

By Sean Gregory/Rio de Janeiro

Neymar delivered Brazil soccer gold—and a measure of revenge over Germany

He was Brazil’s face for theseOlympics, carrying a nation’s expectations on his feet. Neymarcould have stayed in Barcelona, helping Leo Messi, Luis Suarez and his other gilded club teammates kick off their La Liga season Saturday (with a win, of course). The Olympic men’s soccer tournament is a bit of a JV affair; it’s only open to players under 23, with each team allowed three exceptions. But Neymar, 24, chose to play for his country, to help purge the ghosts of the 2014 World Cup and deliver the kind of delirious victory Brazilians witnessed in Maracana stadium Saturday night.

Brazil beat Germany in a 5-4 penalty shootout to give the host team its first Olympic soccer gold medal. The teams played to a 1-1 tie in regulation and extra time. Neymar scored Brazil’s first goal of the game, on a bending free kick in the 26th minute that he placed perfectly into the top right corner of the goal; it clipped the bottom of the crossbar, before bouncing into the net. That’s why he’s Neymar.