When a young girl from the Philippines wrote an essay about finding a pair ofNeymar's boots, she had no idea the story would come true.
Leanna, who is just 11, entered a literature competition in Barcelona, where she is studying, and when she heard the chosen subject was "a dream," there was only one thing she was going to write about: her hero, Neymar.
Here is what she wrote, per the Foundation FC Barcelona website:
Once I had a dream where I was in my home country, the Philippines. I was in my town, a smaller place than Barcelona and I was walking to the local football pitch. I went straight into the dressing room where I supposed that my team-mates would be waiting. But all I found was a shoe box. I was surprised and decided to open it, and I was even more surprised when I saw that they were Neymar’s boots. I put them on and went out onto the field to play. When I got there,Neymar was waiting for me to play some football. We played until night-time, when Neymar said he had to go and that it had all been a dream. When I woke up, I could still feel the studs of the boots and my legs ached from so much running.
Her essay ended up winning in her category and caused such a reaction that people started working hard to make the dream come true.
Word of the story got through to Neymar, and he "didn’t think twice, and decided to give Leanna one of his signed boots."
Not surprisingly, Leanna was delighted, saying: "Thank you, Neymar, for giving me this gift. I want to take them to the Philippines this summer, to my family’s home."
It was a simple gesture from Neymar, but one this young girl will never forget.
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The iconic striker says the organisation is only interested in making money and is thus responsible for the "disintegration" of the Brazilian game
Romario has accused the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) of ruining the country's proud footballing heritage and claimed that the governing body have not only failed Selecao captain Neymar but the national team as a whole.
Brazil were humiliated as hosts of last year's World Cup by being routed 7-1 in the semi-finals by eventual champions Germany and are now desperately looking for answers again after losing on penalties to Paraguay in the last eight of the Copa America.
However, former Selecao striker Romario says he knows exactly who is to blame, arguing that the national team is paying the price for the CBF's alleged greed.
"I do not need to talk much about the shame that we have suffered in seeing our Selecao struggle on the field," he is quoted as saying by SPORT. "But the problem goes far beyond the pitch.
"The disintegration of our football is happening at all levels and stems from the CBF.
"In recent years, they have only thought of [lining] their own pockets and continue sucking everything they can [out of the game].
"Football has survived until now because of the talent on the field. Brazil had enough players to build two great teams, but today they cannot even make one. This is a reflection of the lack of investment and management [by the CBF]."
Romario then singled out CBF president Marco Polo Del Nero for special criticism, claiming that his decision not to travel to Chile for the Copa America symbolised the lack of support for Neymar, whose tournament was ended by a four-match ban incurred for his dismissal after the full-time whistle in Brazil's group-stage loss to Colombia.
"If there had been leaders in Chile, Neymar most likely would not have had such a hard punishment," the former Barcelona forward added. "He had to have a strong legal support to ensure that the punishment was milder.
"Neymar is the star of Brazil and will now miss the first two games of the qualifying for World Cup 2018."
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