Tottenham's Emerson Royal has Brazil night to forget as Luis Diaz shines in emotional display
Luis Diaz scored both of Colombia's goals to spark an emotional turnaround against Brazil on Thursday night but it was at the expense of Tottenham's Emerson Royal.
The Liverpool star scored twice in the final 15 minutes in a World Cup qualifying game packed with emotion at the Estadio Metropolitano in Colombia because his father Luis Manuel Diaz was in attendance after being held hostage for 12 days by kidnappers, initially also with the winger's mother.
The couple were both released and Diaz's father, with tears in eyes, celebrated the forward's late brace against Brazil as the player pointed towards him in the crowd in the aftermath.
However, in a football sense, Spurs' full-back Emerson had a difficult night in dealing with Diaz down that flank of the pitch.
It was a big night for the 24-year-old, playing his first competitive minutes for Brazil since January 2022, having returned to the squad to play two friendlies in March and then October of this year.
However, he had a tough night ahead of him in dealing with Diaz, who got past him on a couple of occasions as a warning. It was not heeded and Emerson had a part to play in both of the Colombia goals, which came after Arsenal's Gabriel Martinelli had given Brazil a fourth-minute lead.
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For the hosts' equaliser on 75 minutes, Emerson was slow to get across to substitute Cristian Borja, who had all the time in the world out on his left channel to send in a cross that Diaz headed home unmarked in the centre of the box.
Then just four minutes later, the Tottenham defender was unaware that
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