“I AM NOT AFRAID OF FACING NEYMAR,” SAYS SA GOALKEEPER, KHUNE.

Bafana Bafana captain Itumeleng Khune is relishing the prospect of facing Barcelona and Brazil forward Neymar.

Neymar and Khune will come face-to-face again when Bafana host Brazil in an international friendly match on 5 March.

The two players met for the first time in São Paulo in September 2012. The home side won the match 1-0 after a late goal from Hulk.

“I am relishing the prospect of meeting Neymar again. I want to foil him,” said the acrobatic Bafana skipper.

One of the most skilful players in the world, Neymar has recently returned from injury and is now playing for his club again and could be a thorn in the Bafana defence.

The attacking midfielder scored a gem of a goal at the weekend when Barcelona walloped Rayo Vallecano 6-0 at Nou Camp.

Neymar won the Golden Boot Award at the 2013 Fifa Confederations Cup which the home side won when they beat reigning world champions Spain 3-0 with Neymar scoring the second goal.

Said Khune: “I am very excited to face Neymar again, and I want to believe the rest of the players are too. He tried his best to score in our last match when we met but I thwarted him.

“I would like to believe he still has a score to settle with me, in particular and try to beat me but I am prepared for the battle. I want to ensure that he doesn’t have that joy.”

However, Khune added: “It is not just about Neymar because the Brazilian team has a galaxy of world class stars who play for the likes of Barcelona, Chelsea, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and others. So we have to be on guard for the entire 90 minutes as they have defenders like David Luiz, Marcelo and Dani Alves who can also score goals from anywhere.”

Khune will be playing against Brazil for the third time.

“This should be a titanic match. We are really looking forward to welcoming Brazil again. I am hoping for third time lucky since we lost the last two encounters.”