Socceroo Thompson makes light of Neymar 'overrated' barb

Australia's Archie Thompson has made light of his comment that Brazilian Neymar, who recently moved to Barcelona for $74 million (47 million pounds), was overrated, putting the remark down to jetlag or mistranslation.

The Socceroos take on the 2014 World Cup hosts in a friendly in Brasilia on Saturday and Thompson livened up pre-match exchanges by saying he thought Neymar was overrated and his team-mate Oscar was a better player.

Forward Neymar responded to the Melbourne Victory striker in a news conference with the withering question: "What's his name?", according to Brazilian media reports.

"It was the jetlag or the Brazilian reporter didn't understand my Portuguese," New Zealand-born Thompson quipped in a Tweet from Brasilia on Thursday.

Thompson has scored 28 goals in 53 internationals, a tally inflated by the world record 13 he scored when Australia beat American Samoa 31-0 in World Cup qualifying in 2001.

Image: Archie Thompson

Photograph: Scott Barbour/Getty Images