Friday, 13th June, 2014
Brazil left-back Marcelo has revealed that he stayed calm after scoring the own goal in the Selecao’s 3-1 win over Croatia in their World Cup opener last night.
The Real Madrid player put the ball into his own net in the 11th minute at the Arena Corinthians which put the Croats 1-0 up.
However, the defender did not let his head drop as Brazil took control of the game and scored three goals, courtesy of a Neymar brace and an Oscar strike, to come out victorious from their opening fixture.
And Marcelo insisted that he made it clear not to put his side under more pressure after scoring the own goal.
“The first thing I thought was just to stay calm and not make it worse for the team”, he told FIFA’s official site.
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“If I’d let my head drop, I might have ended up making life even more difficult for us. That was the first thing I had to make sure I didn’t do.”
Marcelo further added that the fans and his team-mates immediately helped him to get back into his groove after the unfortunate incident.
“The fans were right behind me after I scored the own-goal and they were chanting my name”, he added.
“My team-mates also came up to me and that helped me clear my head straightaway. I got back into the game immediately.”
Brazil will next face Mexico at the Estadio Castelao on Tuesday.
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