Neymar Jr cries after Croatia’s victory. Brazil’s talisman did not take part in the penalties as Marquinhos missed effort sent Croatia through to the semi-finals making his future participation moot.

Luka Modric, at 37 years showed how central he is to Croatia’s success. The diminutive talisman might be a tad slower with age but he has never lacked leadership and courage, showing it in spades by stepping up to take the third penalty.

Neymar Jr., on the other hand has never lacked the talent and skill. He scores some pretty spectacular goals and gets to showboat. As captain and proven goalscorer, however, he went missing during the penalty shootout because he opted to go fifth. He’s taken plenty of penalties for PSG and should have put himself on top of that list. Instead, a shaky looking Rodrygo’s tame effort was stopped by Livakovic immediately putting Brazil under pressure. It did not get better. The Croats were simply superb in their penalty taking. And Brazil blinked once more with Marquinhos.

Neymar’s tactics failed. He might have one more World Cup left in his legs. But this failure is one more in a litany, cementing his status as a perennial underachiever on the world’s biggest stage.