Neymar's glittering international career came full circle at MetLife Stadium - a venue that has witnessed his first and last goals for Brazil. It's an achievement so rare it defies explanation, like scoring a hat-trick in your debut match all over again. The Brazilian legend, who recently announced his retirement from international duty, netted his 80th goal against Norway in the World Cup last 16 - a moment that marked the end of a chapter that began almost 16 years earlier at the same iconic stadium.
It's hard to believe it's been nearly two decades since Neymar burst onto the scene as an 18-year-old, scoring a thunderous header past Tim Howard in a friendly against the USA on August 10th, 2010. The 77,000-strong crowd at MetLife Stadium that day witnessed history being written, and now they've seen it come full circle with Neymar's last goal for Brazil.
Football enthusiasts are scratching their heads trying to find other examples of players scoring their first and last goals for their country at the exact same stadium. Mexico's Jared Borghetti comes closest, but his were separated by a whopping 900km between Mexico City and Monterrey. Pauli Jørgensen from Denmark scored twice on both his debut and final game, but those were in Aarhus and Copenhagen respectively - nowhere near as dramatic as Neymar's feat.
Even the great Zinedine Zidane fell short of this specific achievement, scoring twice on his debut against the Czech Republic in 1994 and again in his final appearance at the 2006 World Cup final. Those games were played in Bordeaux and Berlin - a far cry from Neymar's unique experience.
It seems only Enrique Borja from Mexico has come close to replicating this feat, scoring on both his debut against Chile before the 1966 World Cup and again on his final appearance against the USA in 1975. But even he didn't manage it at the same stadium - his games were just a stone's throw apart in Mexico City.
Neymar's achievement has sparked debate among football fans about other quirky aspects of the game, including national team kit colours. Japan's blue and white strip, for instance, is partly due to superstition stemming from their use of light blue shirts in the 1930 Far Eastern Games, where a Tokyo Imperial University team represented the nation.