• Brazil's Neymar celebrates scoring their third goal against Peru in the World Cup qualifier in Lima. Reuters
    Brazil's Neymar celebrates scoring their third goal against Peru in the World Cup qualifier in Lima. Reuters
  • Brazil's Neymar celebrates after scoring a penalty against Peru. AFP
    Brazil's Neymar celebrates after scoring a penalty against Peru. AFP
  • Neymar Jhad a night to remember, EPA
    Neymar Jhad a night to remember, EPA
  • Neymar celebrates with teammate Richarlison after scoring a penalty. AFP
    Neymar celebrates with teammate Richarlison after scoring a penalty. AFP
  • Neymar (2-L) celebrates with teammates after scoring against Peru. AFP
    Neymar (2-L) celebrates with teammates after scoring against Peru. AFP
  • Neymar celebrates scoring their first goal. Reuters
    Neymar celebrates scoring their first goal. Reuters
  • Neymar and Peru's Renato Tapia fall. AFP
    Neymar and Peru's Renato Tapia fall. AFP
  • Neymar Brazil reacts after referee calls for a VAR review. Getty
    Neymar Brazil reacts after referee calls for a VAR review. Getty
  • Neymar prepares to take a penalty. AFP
    Neymar prepares to take a penalty. AFP
  • Neymar is grabbed by the jersey by Peru's Pedro Aquino. AFP
    Neymar is grabbed by the jersey by Peru's Pedro Aquino. AFP
  • Neymar celebrates scoring their fourth goal. Reuters
    Neymar celebrates scoring their fourth goal. Reuters
  • Neymar complains to Chilean referee Julio Bascunan after Peru's Carlos Zambrano (R) hit Brazil's Richarlison in the face with an elbow. AFP
    Neymar complains to Chilean referee Julio Bascunan after Peru's Carlos Zambrano (R) hit Brazil's Richarlison in the face with an elbow. AFP
  • Brazil's goalkeeper Weverton celebrates another goal. AFP
    Brazil's goalkeeper Weverton celebrates another goal. AFP
  • Brazil's Neymar takes a penalty. AFP
    Brazil's Neymar takes a penalty. AFP
  • Neymar celebrates after scoring one of his three goals against Peru. EPA
    Neymar celebrates after scoring one of his three goals against Peru. EPA
  • Neymar celebrates his hat-trick. EPA
    Neymar celebrates his hat-trick. EPA
  • Everton's Richarlison controls the ball. Getty
    Everton's Richarlison controls the ball. Getty
  • Brazil's Liverpool striker Roberto Firmino celebrates after teammate Richarlison's strike. AFP
    Brazil's Liverpool striker Roberto Firmino celebrates after teammate Richarlison's strike. AFP
  • Brazil's Roberto Firmino heads the ball next to Peru's Luis Advincula for teammate Richarlison to score. AFP
    Brazil's Roberto Firmino heads the ball next to Peru's Luis Advincula for teammate Richarlison to score. AFP

Neymar hat-trick takes him above Ronaldo in Brazil's top scorer rankings and sparks wild celebrations - in pictures


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Neymar scored a hat-trick to become the second highest scorer in Brazil's history as the Copa America champions won 4-2 at ten-man Peru in a World Cup qualifier.

The goals took Paris Saint-Germain striker Neymar to 64 international goals, two more than Ronaldo but still trailing Pele's record of 77.

Peru twice took the lead through Andre Carrillo and a heavily deflected strike from Renato Tapia, but two controversial Neymar penalties, an injury time third and a close range strike from Richarlison maintained the Selecao's winning start to qualifying for Qatar 2022.

Carrillo opened the scoring on six minutes with a dipping volley from 20 yards after latching on to Marquinhos's weak clearance.

Peru Goalkeeper Pedro Gallese then denied Roberto Firmino from point blank range after he seemed certain to tap home from Richarlison's cushioned header.

Brazil dominated but Peru's pacy forwards looked dangerous on the counter-attack and visiting goalkeeper Weverton had to be alert to keep out a shot from Christofer Gonzales.

But Neymar sent Gallese the wrong way from the spot after Yoshimar Yotun was penalised for tugging his shirt in the box.

Out of nowhere, Tapia's speculative long-range strike took a heavy deflection off Rodrigo Caio and wrong-footed Weverton on 59 minutes.

The lead lasted only a few minutes before Richarlison touched a Firmino header from a corner over the line to restore parity.

The winner came seven minutes from time as Carlos Zambrano was harshly adjudged to have fouled Neymar.

Worse was still to come for Zambrano as he was sent off minutes later for a stray elbow that caught Richarlison and Neymar drilled home the final goal after Gallese spilled a shot from Everton Ribeiro.

Elsewhere, Joaquin Correa scored the winner 11 minutes from time as Argentina laboured to a 2-1 victory over Bolivia to maintain their 100 per cent record after two matches.

Lionel Scaloni's Argentina earned a second narrow victory in a row following Thursday's 1-0 win over Ecuador.

Marcelo Moreno Martins had given hosts Bolivia a deserved lead but Argentina scored a fortuitous equaliser through Lautaro Martinez.

Lionel Messi, who had an otherwise quiet game, and Martinez then combined to tee up Correa to thrash home the winner.

Ecuador dominated Uruguay in a 4-2 victory in Quito.

They took the lead on 15 minutes as Moises Caicedo flicked home a header from an Angel Mena cross.

Both sides had a goal ruled out following a VAR review before Michael Estrada doubled the advantage on the stroke of half-time, rifling home from inside the box after a mistake by veteran Uruguay centre-back Diego Godin.

Uruguay were denied again by VAR before Ecuador went straight up the other end where Estrada cracked home Valencia's backheel from 20 yards.

Ecuador's final goal was a work of art as Alan Franco's reverse pass baffled Uruguay's defence and Gonzalo Plata rolled his foot over the ball to commit both sliding defender Ronald Araujo and goalkeeper Martin Campana before stroking the ball into the far corner.

Luis Suarez scored his record-extending 61st and 62nd goals for Uruguay with a pair of late penalties that were no more than a consolation.