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Real Madrid hero looks unrecognisable as young hopeful posing with idol Neymar when he was at Santos
ONE Real Madrid hero looks unrecognisable as a youngster starting out at Santos.
The kid is posing in a photo alongside childhood hero Neymar during their days at the Brazilian club.
TwitterNeymar poses with the mystery pre-teen future Real Madrid superstar[/caption]
They both are decked out in black Santos polo shirts with an arm wrapped around each other and both stick a thumb up.
Neymar left Santos back in 2013 aged 21 in a controversial switch to Barcelona.
And his future Selecao international team-mate – dubbed the ‘next Neymar’ – is nine years younger, making him at most 12 at the time of the photo.
He appears a little awestruck to be snapped with Neymar, barely managing a smile.
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Nine years on, he is a Bernabeu hero and cannot stop smiling.
After joining for £40.5million in 2019, he enjoyed arguably one of his greatest moments in the famous white shirt this week.
He already had a Champions League perfect hat-trick aged 18 and scored crucial goals against Inter Milan in 2020 then Chelsea in the previous round.
But it was his two goals in two minutes – in the 90th and 91st minutes – to somehow claw Real Madrid back from the brink of an exit against Manchester City.
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The mystery man is, of course, Rodrygo.
He spent eight years earning his stripes with his boyhood club Santos before that big-money move to Spain, following in the footsteps of Neymar.
But the 21-year-old winger’s 16th and 17th Real Madrid goals in appearance No103 for Los Blancos kept their dreams of a 14th European Cup alive.
Riyad Mahrez’s superb goal looked to have put City through to back-to-back finals.
But up stepped Rodrygo twice in the closing moments to make it 5-5 on aggregate and force extra-time, where Karim Benzema tucked away the winning penalty to set up another final against Liverpool.
APThe 21-year-old’s header forced extra-time against Manchester City[/caption]
The Brazilian celebrates on an iconic night for him and Real Madrid in the Champions LeagueGetty
