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Neymar has just pulled off the ultimate football cheat code – & he did it before Messi

Nestor Watach •

Neymar has been back at his boyhood club Santos for less than a month, but he’s already played more football than he managed in a season and a half out in Saudi Arabia.

And by the looks of his latest performance, he’s determined to make up for lost time.

The Brazilian superstar mustered just seven appearances totalling 428 minutes out at Al-Hilal, his Saudi Pro League stint severely hampered by a cruciate ligament tear that kept him sidelined for almost an entire year.

He suffered setbacks on his long-awaited return, eventually leading to Al-Hilal boss Jorge Jesus omitting him from their squad. He stated that Neymar “can no longer play at the level we are used to.”

That statement sounded alarm bells, particularly for a player so often out of action, on the treatment table, during his prime years for PSG.

Not being at the level of the Saudi Pro League? Seriously? Damning words which suggested one of the most talented and entertaining players of his era was destined for a sad and premature end.

But Neymar himself has other ideas.

“The field speaks,” said the 33-year-old in response to Jesus’ comments.

So far he’s backing up his words. He’s played 432 minutes of football in the Campeonato Paulista since rejoining Santos.

And two goals and three assists under his belt is already more than he managed in the entirety of his sorry stint with Al-Hilal.

As he gets back up to speed, each performance better than the last, we’re given hope that we might yet see the old Neymar once again as he approaches his twilight years.

Take his latest outing, for example. He had a hand in all three of Santos’ goals in their comfortable 3-0 victory over AA Internacional de Limeira, assisting striker Tiquinho Soares for the first and third.

But it was his goal, Santos’ 2nd, that will live longest in the memory.

Booed by the opposition fans as he stepped up to take a corner, Neymar revelled in shutting them up as he executed an Olimpico, sending the ball over his team-mates and beyond the goalkeeper’s reach.

Off the post and in. Perfection.

For what it’s worth, that’s one feat that Neymar’s old pal Lionel Messi has never achieved.

Of the 851 career goals that the Argentinian has scored, not one of them has been directly from a corner.

Messi came inches away in a World Cup qualifier against Paraguay back in October 2023 and has cheekily attempted it a couple of times since for Inter Miami, but still await the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner’s first Olimpico goal.

Once a rare novelty, it’s something we’ve seen with increasing regularity of late. Manchester United contrived to concede two in as many weeks earlier this season.

Former Aston Villa midfielder Douglas Luiz loved trying it, and often enough he succeeded.

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Trust a player as outrageously gifted as Neymar to pull off the ultimate football cheat code as well as anyone else.

It takes a second angle to truly appreciate the beauty of Neymar’s Olimpico. Filmed from behind the goal, you get a perfect sense it was no fluke. He knew exactly what he was doing and pulled it off flawlessly.

Really, you need to take a second look to fully recognise the utter helplessness of the ‘keeper and the placement of Neymar’s hit. To nick a phrase from Brazil, right where the owl sleeps. Trust them to produce something more poetic than the orderly British banality of ‘postage stamp’.

It remains to be seen where Neymar goes from here.

These performances are something to savour, but they’re a long way off the top level. Even in Brazil, this regional competition is the perfect platform to ease the prodigal son gradually back to action.

But even Jorge Jesus, who so ruthlessly cut Neymar adrift at Al-Hilal, has softened his stance and bears his compatriot no ill will. He even hinted at hope that the forward can return to his former glories and lead the Selecao to World Cup glory next year.

“I had no luck at all, neither he nor I,” Jesus told Canal 11.

“He was at Al Hilal with a very serious injury. He was the best player I’ve worked with since I became a coach. We didn’t have much time to show everything he had. A good professional, a good friend, he’s not a star.

“But the truth is that things didn’t work out. Sometimes, talking to myself, frustrated, I even think ‘how come I didn’t manage to get this player, who is a superstar, to do well?’ But whatever. These things happened. If he left, it had to be for Brazil. He’s going to help the national team a lot.”

Brazil face Colombia and Argentina in next month’s international break.

We’ll see what happens there, but for let’s just enjoy Neymar playing with a smile on his face, shutting up the boo boys and pulling off ridiculous feats that break our brain.

By Nestor Watach

Santos