MIAMI: Neymar didn´t disappoint in his much anticipated return Friday, grabbing a second-half equalizer for Brazil in a 2-2 friendly draw with Colombia on Friday.
The Paris Saint-Germain star was playing for the first time for club or country since suffering an ankle injury in a friendly against Qatar in June, which ruled him out of the Copa America.
Since then the Brazilian star had been embroiled in a long-running transfer saga that ended this week with the Brazilian staying at PSG -- a return to Barcelona finally ruled out.
Before a sell-out crowd of 65,232 at Hard Rock Stadium, home of the NFL´s Miami Dolphins, Neymar delivered for Brazil, scoring the equalizer in the 58th after setting up Casemiro for the game´s opening goal in the 20th minute.
Colombia were lacking top stars James Rodriguez and Radamel Falcao, but thanks to Luis Muriel´s brace they gave Copa America champions Brazil a fright before Neymar rode to the rescue and Tite´s men extended their unbeaten run.
Although Neymar made a quiet start, it was his cross from a corner that found a soaring Casemiro, who nodded past helpless Colombian keeper David Ospina to open the scoring.
The lead didn´t last long as Luis Muriel converted from the spot in the 25th after taking a high kick from Alex Sandro.
Less than 10 minutes later Muriel fired Colombia ahead 2-1. Roger Martinez launched the counter-attack and Duvan Zapata played a ball out wide to Muriel, who blasted past Ederson.
Brazil almost pulled level seven minutes into the second half but Philippe Coutinho´s attempt went wide.
Coutinho was key to Brazil´s 58th-minute equalizer, finding Dani Alvez from the halfway line. Alvez´s cross found Neymar, who was in the right place to slot a side-footed shot into an empty net.
The draw extended Brazil´s unbeaten run to 17 matches, a streak that dates back to their 2018 World Cup elimination by Belgium.
Neymar notched his 61st international goal, put him one behind Ronaldo, who sits second on Brazil´s all-time list headed by Pele´s 77.
Both countries will be back in action on Wednesday, with Brazil hosting Peru in a Copa America final rematch in Los Angeles and Colombia taking on Venezuela in Tampa, Florida.