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Football London
Football London
Sport
Jonty Colman

West Ham star inspires Neymar's World Cup goal before Brazil's shock exit to Croatia

West Ham United forward Nikola Vlasic has helped Croatia cause a shock World Cup quarter-final win over Brazil in Qatar.

Brazil had looked set to beat Croatia and West Ham United midfielder Lucas Paqueta played a crucial role in Brazil's opening goal, teeing up Neymar in the first half of extra-time.

Neymar took his goal, his 77th for Brazil and eighth at a World Cup, brilliantly, darting past Croatia goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic before firing into an empty net from close range to seemingly seal Brazil's spot in the last four of the competition - or so he and his nation thought.

READ MORE: West Ham's Gianluca Scamacca sets Udinese target for friendly clash after Cambridge struggles

Neymar fired a pass towards Paqueta, with the Irons man stood with his back to goal on the edge of the penalty area. Paqueta returned it to Neymar with a first-time pass perfectly, allowing Neymar to run through on goal and eventually score.

Paqueta was highly involved in the game, going close to opening the scoring twice. First, he found himself through on goal from close range but saw an aerial effort denied by Livakovic before Paqueta then shot from the edge of the penalty area, only to be denied once again.

Shortly after his assist, Paqueta was one of two Brazil players taken off at half-time, being replaced by Manchester United midfielder Fred for the final 15 minutes of the game.

Despite Brazil seemingly on course for a last-four place, Croatia took the tie to penalties when Bruno Petkovic's deflected shot beat Liverpool stopper Alisson in the 117th minute, taking the tie to a penalty shootout.

Featuring for the final 18 minutes of normal time and all of extra-time was West Ham forward Nikola Vlasic, who scored in Croatia's shootout win over Japan on Monday. He took the opening spot-kick of the shootout, scoring with an effort down the middle.

Croatia went on to score all four of their penalties, while Real Madrid's Rodrygo and PSG's club teammate Marquinhios missed from 12 yards, with Vlasic again helping Croatia in a shootout, to set up a semi-final tie against either Argentina or the Netherlands.

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