Usually, the injury of the star player of a soccer team is bad news for all his fans. But in battle against Switzerland on Monday, some Brazilians found it hard to overlook his opinion on the idol neymarwho pledged to dedicate his first World Cup goal to the far-right former president, Jair Bolsonaro.
Watching Brazil play Switzerland in a packed bar in downtown Rio de Janeiro, 23-year-old law student Henrique Melo exposed his dilemma. “As a player, Neymar is incredible, an artist. As a person, he leaves a lot to be desired, not only because of his political views but because of who he is. Instead of investing in education, social, projects, set an example for children…”.
As a soccer fan, I really want Neymar to recover from the ankle injury that kept him out of the match against Serbia (Brazil won 2-0), where he shone without scoring a goal . “The team misses him,” says Melo. At the same time, the fact that the most expensive soccer player in the world has not yet scored in the tournament “is the best result that Brazil got in the World Cup, because all the fans of Bolsonaro celebrated it”, joked Melo , a supporter of left-wing president-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
On Rio’s famous Copacabana beach, where huge crowds watch the game on a giant screen, Tainara Santana, a 29-year-old vendor, feels the same problem. “I love football and I want Neymar to play because he’s good. But I can’t say I’m sad because he didn’t score. It’s nice to see Neymar fail,” he laughed.
With his millions of followers on social media, Neymar is one of the biggest celebrities in world sport, but his magic is sometimes tarnished. On the pitch, critics accuse the PSG striker (30) of farce and, off the pitch, he is singled out for his raucous partying, tax evasion and spoiled brat behaviour. “He’s an imbecile,” Tainara Santana said. “Not just because of his political views, but because of his machismo, his ego, his complete lack of humility.”
Neymar’s side with Bolsonaro sparked a torrent of online messages from an army of haters. On Twitter, the hashtag “#fuckneymar” became one of the most popular topics in Brazil over the weekend. On the other hand, some teammates sided with him, like Casemiro and Raphina, saying he doesn’t deserve all this opprobrium online.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
