Neymar could not hide his disappointment as he burst into tears following Brazil's shock elimination from the World Cup at the hands of Croatia.
The forward looked to have sent his team into the semi-finals after his superb 106th minute goal in extra time gave Brazil a 1-0 lead. But Bruno Petkovic's deflected strike four minutes from time sent the game to spot kicks where Croatia triumped in the shootout to break Brazilian hearts.
Neymar did not even get to take a penalty as he waited until kick number five, but Brazil crashed out before that point when penalty taker no.4 Marquinhos struck the foot of the post, leaving his team-mate inconsolable. Neymar sat in the turf with his head in his hands emotional at the prospect of missing out on the World Cup in possibly his last tournament.
Manchester United star Antony was also in tears at the heartache of elimination as Croatia march on to the final four where they will meet the winner of Argentina's clash vs Netherlands.
Rodrygo had missed Brazil's first penalty to leave them chasing Croatia, who were flawless from the spot scoring all four of their efforts before Marquinhos' miss delivered the crucial blow.
Croatia had given Brazil a difficult task all evening, frustrating their opponents for much of the match. Brazil began to find their groove in the second half, but struggled to find a way past Dominik Livakovic in the Croatia goal, who pulled off several good saves to force the game to extra time.
It was then that Neymar produced a moment of magic to give Brazil the upper hand and looked to have put the tie to bed. Collecting the ball outside the box, Neymar played successive one-twos with two team-mates, before rounding Livakovic and firing into the roof of the net.
Croatia hadn't mustered a shot on target all game till that point and it looked as though they would be heading out of the competition without testing Brazil stopper Alisson.
But this World Cup has thrown up plenty of surprises, and when Josko Gvardiol thwarted a Brazil attack with a stunning tackle on Fred, it galvanised Croatia, who launched an immediate counter, ending with Petkovic's effort nestling into the corner past Alisson's outstretched arm.
Into penalties and much of the pressure was on Brazil, who weren't helped when Livakovic saved Rodrygo's shot to keep them one ahead following Nikola Vlasic's penalty, which he despatched straight down the middle.
Lovro Majer followed his team-mates example by striking the ball down the centre to bamboozle Alisson, but Casemiro's emphatic finish kept Brazil within touching distance. Luka Modric showed his class to cooly convert his spot kick, before Pedro and Mislav Orsic both scored too.
A goal from Marquinhos would heap pressure on Croatia's final kicker, but while the defender's strike sent Livakovic the wrong way, it cannoned back off the post to send Brazil home and Croatia's players into jubilant celebrations.
