Difficult days for Neymar: 'NO' from Barcelona, 'KO' from Santos and is he injured again?

The last few days have not been the best on a sporting level for Neymar Jr., who returned to Brazilian football with Santos, intending to redeem himself, regain his form, and return to Europe, preferably to FC Barcelona, a team that does not see him as part of their project.

On Sunday night, his team, the 'peixe', was eliminated in the semifinals of the Paulista championship with an adverse score of (2-1) against Corinthians, in a match that '10' did not play due to discomfort in his left thigh, which are not concerning, but still the coaching staff decided it was best for 'Ney' not to enter the match. The 'timão' took away Neymar's chance to play in the first final of a competition after signing with Santos at the end of January, where he is considered a legend.

Santos feels Neymar's absence

The match took place at the Neo Química Arena and started with the São Paulo team opening the scoring. In the 11th minute, Memphis Depay sent in a cross that was capitalized on by Yuri Alberto to score 1-0. After the goal that put Corinthians ahead, they began to lower the intensity, which was taken advantage of by the 'peixe'. First, Matheuzinho managed to score a goal on the line, and from the corner kick, Tiquinho Soares headed in to equalize the game.

In the second half, the 'alvinegro' finally felt the absence of their star and could do nothing against the bad luck of a match where things did not go their way, as in the 56th minute, Rodrigo Garro received the ball outside the area, shrugged off his marker, and fired a shot into the corner to seal the 2-1.

Neymar arrived at the season with Santos at a less than optimal level after playing 428 minutes with Al-Hilal between August 2023 and September 2024, after suffering a rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament and meniscus in his left knee in a qualifying match between Brazil and Uruguay. Despite all this, so far the former Barcelona player has scored three goals and provided three assists in seven matches.

Barcelona rules out the '10' from Brazil

One of the biggest representatives of the 'jogo bonito', apparently, will not step onto Camp Nou again as a Barcelona player; at least that is what Barcelona's sporting director Deco implied in a recent interview, considering that stories do not always repeat themselves.

Deco: "Neymar is a phenomenon and the important thing is that he is happy. Being in Brazil makes him happy and that is what he should think about. It is not so much an economic issue for him now. I believe that if a situation arises later, it should be good for us and for him, and a football team is built with balance and head. Neymar was a phenomenon who passed through here, who won at Barça, but sometimes those stories do not repeat themselves"

Neymar's numbers at Barcelona

The '10' from Brazil and Santos played 196 matches with Barcelona, where he scored 114 goals from the 2013 season to 2017, when he decided to leave for PSG. Furthermore, the forward was part of what is considered the best trident in football history alongside Leo Messi and Luis Suárez, winning 1 Champions League, 1 UEFA Super Cup, 1 FIFA Club World Cup, 1 Spanish Super Cup, 2 La Liga titles, and 3 Copa del Rey titles.

• Neymar played 196 matches with FC Barcelona
• The '11' scored 114 goals with the blaugrana jersey
• Together with Messi and Suárez (MSN) won 9 titles
• UEFA Champions League x1
• UEFA Super Cup x1
• FIFA Club World Cup x1
• Spanish La Liga x2
• Copa del Rey x3
• Spanish Super Cup x1