European curse stings Brazil again at World Cup

AL RAYYAN, Qatar: Brazil are going home empty-handed after they suffered yet another heartbreaking World Cup exit to a European rival - and the quarter-final defeat by Croatia will hurt as they let victory slip through their fingers just three minutes from the final whistle.

When Neymar put the South Americans ahead with a spectacular effort in the first half of extra time, Brazilian fans all over the world were left rejoicing.

However, with the semi-final showdown with either Argentina or the Netherlands looming, Tite's men let their guards down and allowed Croatia to score an equaliser from a counter-attack with three minutes left in extra-time.

After looking outstanding in their 4-1 win against South Korea in their last-16 match, they had a hard time breaking the deadlock against Croatia on Friday.

However, a moment of magic from Neymar in which he penetrated an unbreakable Croatian wall following a brilliant one-two exchange with his team mate culminated in him scoring one of the goals of the tournament - an effort which drew him level with Pele's Brazilian record of 77 goals.

It was a goal that would probably have made the great Pele, who is is battling cancer in a Sao Paulo hospital, proud.

It looked like the end of a 20-year curse, with Brazil having won the last of their record five World Cup titles in 2002.

After being knocked out in 2006 by France, 2010 by the Netherlands, suffering a 7-1 semi-final humiliation on home soil by Germany in 2014 and being beaten by Belgium four years later, Brazil were on the verge of proving to themselves that they once again possessed the mindset to beat their European rivals on the biggest stage.

They were winning 1-0. Three minutes from time. And instead of keeping possession and