Neymar's Santos has suffered a horrible 0-3 defeat at home on Sunday that leaves the team hanging 16th, right above the relegation zone with only 4 wins after the first 16 matches in the Brazilian league. For Neymar Jr., the most important thing is having enough time to play to make as many merits as possible to convince Carlo Ancelotti that he is fit for World Cup 2026. And in today's match he got "robbed" of 25 minutes, when he was substituted... by mistake.
Neymar was substituted by Robinho Jr. in the 65th minute, after the fourth referee lifted the board showing his number 10. Neymar was surprised by the substitution, when the team was already losing 3-0, and protested it... because it had been a human mistake by the fourth referee, who wrote number 10 instead of the player that was supposed to exit, Escobar, with number 31.
A truly surrealist moment followed when Neymar grabbed the note from the coach and showed it to the camera to prove he had been subbed by mistake. However, the decision to remove him stayed from the match, and Neymar lost 25 minutes to try and score a goal in one of his final matches before the break for the FIFA competition.
<social>https://x.com/geglobo/status/2056039700092031060</social>
How many matches does Neymar have before World Cup?
Neymar has four other matches to try to convince Carlo Ancelotti to call him for World Cup 2026. Two league matches (against Gremio on May 24 and Vitória on May 31) and the last two Group stage matches of the CONMEBOL Sudamericana, against San Lorenzo and Deportivo Cuenca on May 21 and 27: Santos hasn't won any of the group matches and faces elimination from the competition.
Despite the poor sporting results, Neymar has been included in the World Cup pre-list for Brazil, despite incidents like his quarrel with Robinho's son.