President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva joked on Wednesday that Brazil should sign Lionel Messi after being asked about his country’s start to the World Cup.
The five-time world champions opened their campaign with a 1-1 draw against Morocco, a result that exposed several weaknesses in the team.
Argentina, Brazil’s biggest football rival, enjoyed a much better start. Messi scored a hat-trick in a 3-0 win over Algeria on Tuesday.
“I was thinking about signing Messi to play for Brazil,” Lula said with a laugh when reporters asked him about Brazil’s performance at the tournament.
He added that Brazil’s draw against Morocco was not a major concern because he considered Morocco the strongest team in the group.
“They say that whenever Brazil is heavily doubted, they win the World Cup… let’s see.”
Brazil will face Haiti on Friday in its second Group C match.
Attention is also focused on Neymar, who returned to the national team after almost three years away because of injuries and poor form.
The 34-year-old, Brazil’s all-time leading scorer, took part in his first training session with the squad on Wednesday following a calf injury suffered last month.
“Did you miss me?” Neymar joked to reporters as he joined his team-mates on the pitch for light training.
It remains unclear when Neymar will make his first appearance at the tournament.
