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SOCHI. — Neymar has expressed his anguish after Brazil were knocked out of the Soccer World Cup on Friday, losing 2-1 to Belgium in the quarter-finals in Russia.

“I can say it is the saddest moment of my career, the pain is great because we knew we could get there, we know we had a chance to go far, to make history . . . But it wasn’t to be this time,” he wrote in an Instagram post.

Brazil were left stunned in Friday night’s match in Kazan, finding themselves 2-0 down at half-time and unable to rescue the game in the second half, despite substitute Renato Augusto getting a goal back late on.

The disappointment follows Brazil’s humiliating 7-1 loss against Germany in the semi-finals four years ago, when they hosted the tournament. They played that match without Neymar, who had been stretchered off in the quarter-final win over Colombia with a fractured vertebrae.

He came to Russia having only just returned from an operation on a fractured bone in his foot in early March. “It is difficult to find the strength to want to go back out and play football, but I am certain that God will give me sufficient strength to face up to anything,” Neymar added. — AFP.