Saquon Barkley has called the NFL’s first ever game in Brazil “beautiful” and “electric” after scoring a career-high three touchdowns to help the Philadelphia Eagles beat the Green Bay Packers 34-29 in their opening match of the season.
Running back Barkley became the first NFL player to score in South America with a little more than 17 minutes gone in Sao Paulo, immediately paying back some of the guaranteed $26 million three-year deal he signed with the Eagles in March.
“A hat-trick is never a bad thing but there’s so much I can do… there’s a lot of bad in there, too,” said Barkley, whose side take on Atlanta Falcons on Monday (8.15pm ET).
“You go back, watch the film and take on the challenge for that next game. I want to be special; I want to be special for this offense and team. I want to give Philly something to be proud and I think they’ll be happy with the start.”
Saquon Barkley is having one of the greatest team debuts of all time.
📺: #GBvsPHI on Peacock pic.twitter.com/Hvx7tUzGkI
— NFL (@NFL) September 7, 2024
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Saquon Barkley: NFL Brazil ‘chills’
“It was beautiful to be here in South America but now we get to go home and do it in front of our fans on Monday night,” added Barkley.
“We’ll go back and watch the film. You’ve got to treat it like we lost. We’ve got to get in meetings and correct the little things we had.”
Brazilian singer Luisa Sonza recited the host country’s national anthem in stirring style before the teams started their campaigns.
“The atmosphere was electric,” said Barkley. “I kind of knew; one of my boys stayed out here for a little bit and went out to a football game here and sent me a video.
“I’m not familiar with Portuguese so I don’t know what was being said during the national anthem but the way everyone was singing, all doing it together – it literally gave me chills.
Wake up, @saquon has something to tell y’all🤳 pic.twitter.com/u6RchNLn5P
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) September 7, 2024
“We all were like ‘wow, that was special’. If you can’t get ready for a football game after hearing your national anthem and hearing [that] national anthem and just being here, seeing the moment and realising we’re making history, you’ve got to check yourself.Shout out to the Packers fans: they came out and did their thing, but there were a lot of Eagles fans, too.”
Barkley ‘thankful’ to Eagles
Two-time Pro Bowl star Barkley spent the first five years of his senior career with the New York Giants before joining Philadelphia.
“Once I signed, I kind of had that monkey off my back,” said the 27-year-old. “I was just super-excited and thankful for the opportunity. I was able to lock in. The money’s good and all that, but I truly love this game and playing football.”
