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The Brazil forward, in Kazan for Friday's
quarter-final against Belgium, is the third footballer to
receive the honor with Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo and
Argentina's Lionel Messi having already been immortalized on the
city walls.
While the images of Ronaldo and Messi were cheek-by-jowl near
the Ramada Hotel along with a cheeky message challenging the
Argentine to match his rival's goal tally in Brazil, Neymar has
his own spot near the other official team hotel, the Mirage.
The three-storey portrait of Ronaldo was painted to welcome the
five-times World Player of the Year when Portugal played in the
capital of Tatarstan in the 2017 Confederations Cup.
To the embarrassment of city officials, it turned out that
Argentina would be staying at the same hotel ahead of Saturday's
World Cup last 16 clash against France with Messi potentially
being able to see the Ronaldo mural from his room.
To avoid to appear to be taking sides in the eternal debate over
which of the Spain-based forwards is the world's best player,
the city commissioned the smaller side profile of Messi, also a
five-times World Player of the Year.
With Ronaldo and Messi having already departed the tournament
after losses in the round of 16, the path is clear for Neymar to
challenge the stranglehold the pair have had on such discussions
over the last decade.
While the Kazan murals have been popular with picture-snapping
fans, one in Moscow proved more controversial when it emerged
that the man tasked with decorating the city for the World Cup
had commissioned a 12-storey portrait of his wife.
(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney and John Sibley, editing by Amlan
Chakraborty)
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