Julio Cesar grateful to QPR

Julio Cesar is still grateful to Queens Park Rangers for signing him last northern summer even though it was relegated.

Cesar and a number of other expensive imports signed for QPR amid great fanfare, but Mark Hughes and then Harry Redknapp failed to get the team to gel and it was relegated to the Championship two weeks ago.

Given that Cesar won five Serie A titles and one UEFA Champions League, he could be forgiven for having bad memories of the west London club, but he has not forgotten it was the club which rescued him from a miserable end to his career at Inter Milan.

"I had a wonderful year, individually speaking, regardless that the collective is not what I expected," Cesar told a press conference.

"I was caught by surprise and my career took a bad turn at Inter and QPR were the only club that came for me and helped me at that moment."

Cesar is part of the Brazil squad which will face England on Sunday evening (local time) in the first game since the Maracana re-opened its doors after a £300 million ($476.3 million) revamp.

Cesar, who has been strongly linked with Arsenal, will want to impress any suitors watching on and he is also keen to establish himself as Luiz Felipe Scolari's number one ahead of next year's FIFA World Cup.

"If I am world champion (in 2014), I will be able to end my career with a flourish," he added.

Scolari is likely to deploy Neymar up front for the clash in the Maracana alongside Fred, who should be fit despite a rib injury.

Barcelona won the ultra-competitive race to sign Neymar last week when it announced it had come to an agreement with the forward's current club Santos.

Many players have failed to make the grade after swapping South America for Europe, but Cesar thinks the highly-rated 21-year-old will have no problem adapting to life at the Nou Camp.

"He will be well advised, he will understand the pressure on him and he won't worry about playing, he will just enjoy it," he said.

"He will go to Barcelona and demonstrate what he can do and get the merit.

"I cannot remember a player who has had so much international respect from playing in Brazil."

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