Neymar shines as Brazil send out World Cup warning

        

                                    Neymar celebrates scoring against Panama

Neymar showed he is ready for the World Cup by inspiring Brazil to a swaggering 4-0 warm-up win over Panama.
The performance sent out a message to their World Cup rivals just nine days ahead of the tournament’s opening game between Brazil and Croatia in Sao Paulo.

Neymar was in impressive form and opened the scoring himself, before Dani Alves made it 2-0 before the break. Hulk and Willian netted the other two in the second half.

Every touch from Neymar was greeted with the kind of screams only usually heard at One Direction concerts, and just before the half-hour mark the Barcelona poster boy gave the home crowd something to celebrate.

After being hacked down on the edge of the box, Neymar curled a nonchalant free kick into the top corner of the Panama net to put Brazil ahead.

And his Brazil team-mate Alves doubled the lead before the break, toe-poking into the bottom corner from the edge of the box, making the most of some slack opposition marking.

Hulk made it 3-0 just a minute into the second half, finishing with the outside of his boot following Neymar’s clever backheel through ball between two defenders.

And Neymar turned provider once again for Brazil’s fourth and final goal of the evening, slotting through Maxwell, who squared for substitute Willian to finish into the empty net.

Brazil should have been awarded a penalty late in the game, with Gabriel Gomez clearly handling to prevent a Maicon header on goal. Initially the spot kick was awarded, with Gomez shown a red card. But confusion ensued as the decision was rescinded and a free kick given the other way.