The moment seemed to have passed him by. With a chance to finally move above the almighty Pele as Brazil's all-time record goal-scorer, Neymar stepped up to the spot. He missed, rolling a tame effort right at Guillermo Viscarra following his trademark slow penalty run-up.
It turned out that Neymar's ascension would only be delayed by minutes, though - not days or weeks. With his 78th goal, Neymar passed Pele's goal tally to become the Selecao's best of the best before netting his 79th later for good measure. The big moment came in a lopsided 5-1 win over Bolivia, which saw Brazil get their World Cup qualifying campaign off to the perfect start.
It wasn't just Neymar, though. To be fair, the Al-Hilal star may not have even been Brazil's best attacker. Rodrygo takes home those honours, scoring twice while assisting another. It was a dominant attacking display, as expected for Brazil, but this one will prove memorable thanks to Neymar, who now finds himself all alone atop the goal-scoring charts.
GOAL rates Brazil's players from the Estadio Estadual Jornalista Edgar Augusto Proenca...