In a few weeks, Neymar will turn 29 years old. The Brazilian should find his best moment, about to start a two-year period that will be vital to defining his career. This lapse will begin with the recovery of his most recent injury, ending the 2022 World Cup and, with the hopes of all Brazil on his shoulders, a sixth championship.
The next two years will have a lot to do with their attempts to consolidate their place in the pantheon of football greats, although winning the World Cup and the Champions League will not be the only goals. The era of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo is coming to an end. The throne of the best footballer in the world is about to be vacated, and it is unlikely that Robert Lewandowski will be a candidate to fill it in the long run, considering that the Pole is 32 years old. In the opinion of some, and almost certainly his, Neymar’s career will not have fulfilled its full potential, if he is unable to take that honor.
Surely (and rightly so) some will see the above as an exaggeration, as a silly trap in which too much attention is paid to an individual award, conferred under subjective criteria, in a collective sport. However, Neymar is Brazilian; therefore, he grew up with the idea that the trophy for the best footballer in the world is a kind of birthright for the natives of this country. Romario, Ronaldo Nazario, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho, Kaká: it seemed to take for granted that the most excellent Brazilian footballer would also be considered the best in the world.
It could also be the case that the search for the record is being counterproductive, as we see times when Neymar accumulates too much pressure to shine.
Certainly, this seemed to be the case in the final of the previous edition of the Champions League, the most important club match he has played in his career. It was amazing to see that from the moment Bayern Munich scored their first goal, Neymar’s game fell apart. He was unable to help Paris Saint-Germain get out of the hole when the score was 1-0 and, faced with a crisis, was unable to make things easy to keep the ball in play. He seemed to be a man who succumbed to excessive pressure, and it is likely that the events of the previous days had raised the pressure to another level.
An obvious criticism received by Neymar after the Champions League final did not focus on what appeared to be a man under too much pressure; on the contrary, it was said that when it came time to work in earnest, he continued to act like a teenager.
In the following months, the story changed to revolve around a new phenomenon: Neymar, the adult. It had been said that the striker had understood a hard but undeniable truth: his career would not be eternal and that the time had come to make a difference. He was widely praised for his leadership role, when PSG and Istanbul Basaksehir left the pitch during their Champions League clash last December, following allegations of racism over the expressions of a referee.
As Fernando Kallas, a Brazilian journalist living in Spain, put it in a recent post on social media: “This week, I praised the maturity shown by Neymar, the position he took against racism. and how their image is improving here in Europe. ” Kallas closed his post with a one-handed emoticon slapping a boss: his confession, in visual terms, that he had spoken too fast about the star gunner.
What was the reason? The controversy caused by the party held by Neymar and which included a period of five days, between Christmas and New Year, according to newspaper reports.
Brazilian media reported that the PSG player had organized a party for 500 attendees (although it had been indicated that attendance would be limited to 150 people) on his property in the municipality of Mangaratiba, on the coast of Rio of Janeiro, in the midst of a coronavirus pandemic that has had particularly severe effects on Brazil. After there has been some relief, the daily death toll in the South American nation is once again surpassing one thousand, while the bleak overall balance will soon surpass the 200,000 deaths mark.
These are not times to celebrate a lavish party. Even the traditional New Year’s Eve celebrations were canceled across the country for public health reasons.
The reaction was immediate. “It doesn’t matter if 500 or 150 people attended the party,” wrote Maurici Noriega, a journalist for SporTV. “What speaks for itself is the attitude of a person imitating a Michael Jackson from football, stuck in his Neverland, isolated from the rest of the world, living like a teenager, impressed by the show business. “
Noriega’s words could be loaded with deep bitterness, because the journalist had been one of those who had praised Neymar before the celebration of the party became known. “A few days ago, I looked like a fool,” he expressed, “when I claimed that Neymar had become independent as an athlete and person, by being part of the protests” after the track was abandoned. in the Champions League match.
Former midfielder Zé Elias, who played for almost a decade in Europe, expressed himself in similar terms on the ESPN Brazil screen.
“Neymar is the product of an environment that has been created for him from the start … a mindset in which it is said, ‘This guy is a star, let’s do what he wants.’ So he grew up, he got used to it and no one stopped him. “Considering the repercussions the event would have on his country, Elias stated,” Here’s why Brazil will never be seen as a serious country. ” .
Veteran television commentator Galvao Bé has also expressed his criticism in this regard, while former football figure Walter Casagrande, who currently serves as an analyst, commented that Neymar “remains small in the things that really importen “.
If Neymar wants to grow up to put on the boots of the best footballer in the world, he will now have to do so with a much heavier load on his shoulders. Currently, the pressure is greater. Those who want to defend it are getting harder and harder, while those looking to attack have additional reasons to aim their darts at him. And hopefully the death toll due to the coronavirus will not be affected by what has happened in Mangaratiba, anyway.