The Real Madrid defender says there is little chance of him preventing the Barcelona attacker from getting at least one shot on goal during the Confederations Cup final
Spain full-back Alvaro Arbeloa has admitted ahead of Sunday’s Confederations Cup clash with Brazil that successfully nullifying Neymar is “practically impossible”.
The Real Madrid defender will be entrusted with the responsibility of attempting to subdue the Selecao star, who has enhanced his already stellar reputation with three man of the match-winning displays in four games.
Consequently, Arbeloa is under no illusions about the enormity of the task he is facing at the Maracana.
“It’s very difficult to mark players like him,” the former Liverpool man told reporters. “It’s practically impossible to make sure that he doesn’t get a shot on goal during the 90 minutes – or create danger, or dribble past you.
“It’s a nice challenge to pit yourself up against the world’s best players and I personally don’t mind being in the spotlight at all.
“If you put in a decent game, it’s recognised but I know it’s going to be a difficult mission for me.”
Arbeloa insisted, though, that he and his team-mates are not feeling the heat ahead of a game that offers the reigning world and European champions the opportunity to hold every major international honour at once.
“We don’t feel under pressure to win this trophy,” the 30-year-old stated. “It’s the one which we still have yet to win and winning it by beating Brazil in Brazil would just be the icing on the cake.
“South American team tends to give us more problems. They are more hardened, they demand more from us and we struggle more against them. We are more used to facing European teams.
“But we are making history and, for all of us, our biggest motivation is pride.”
Spain’s eagerly-awaited meeting with tournament hosts Brazil will kick off in Rio at 0:00CET.