Where are they now? The Brazil XI from Neymar’s debut in 2010

It’s almost 15 years since Brazil’s all-time top goalscorer Neymar made his international debut in a friendly against the USA. But what became of that team?

Neymar marked his first appearance for the Selecao with a goal, the first of his 79 goals on the international stage.

Brazil ran out 2-0 winners at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium after the rising star from Santos put them ahead midway through the first half with a header.

We’ve checked in on the rest of Brazil’s starting XI to see where they are today.

GK: Victor

Little known outside of his home country, Victor spent his entire club career in Brazil – with over 500 combined appearances for Gremio and Atletico Mineiro.

Career highlights included winning the Copa Libertadores alongside Ronaldinho with Atletico Mineiro in 2013, but he never really made it beyond back-up status for Brazil.

Victor made a grand total of six appearances but tended to warm the bench as Julio Cesar stood between the sticks.

His last cap came in 2013, although he was selected for the 2014 World Cup squad on home soil. He eventually hung up his gloves in 2021 after almost a decade’s service for Atletico Mineiro.

RB: Dani Alves

Last year, a dark cloud was cast over the right-back’s football career when he was found guilty of rape, sentenced to four and a half years in prison and ordered to pay €150,000 in damages to the victim.

Alves was subsequently released after paying €1million in bail. Reports at the time suggested that Neymar contributed to that, but his father has since refuted those claims.

CB: David Luiz

The Sideshow Bob lookalike returned to Brazil in 2021 after 14 trophy-laden years in Europe.

Luiz added to his Champions League, two Europa Leagues, three FA Cups and four league titles across three different countries with yet more silverware at Flamengo. He won the Copa Libertadores in 2022 as well as two Copa do Brasil and one Campeonato Carioca.

The 37-year-old is still not content with his lot. He’s just signed a two-year deal with Fortaleza after departing Flamengo at the end of last season.

CB: Thiago Silva

Another veteran centre-back still going back in Brazil, Silva boasted a similarly outrageously decorated club career in Europe between 2009 and 2014, representing AC Milan, PSG and Chelsea.

Now he’s 40 and back for a second stint with Fluminense.

He never officially retired from international duty, but he hasn’t appeared for the Selecao since the 2022 World Cup. That leaves him fifth in the great footballing nation’s list of appearance-makers, behind only Cafu, Neymar, Dani Alves and Roberto Carlos.

LB: Andre Santos

Arsenal signed the left-back the year after this friendly, back when his stock was at its highest. That inauspicious move to the Emirates fell in the midpoint of his journeymen career which included stints in India, Switzerland and Turkey (of course).

After six years out of the game, Santos bizarrely briefly returned to action to make one appearance for lesser-known Russian amateur outfit FC Sokol Seltso. Odd one, that.

He still hasn’t recovered from the kicking we gave his restaurant. Sorry about that, Andre.

READ: I visited Andre Santos’ restaurant and it’s exactly as bad as you’d expect

CM: Lucas Leiva

The eternally committed Liverpool cult hero returned to his boyhood club Gremio in 2022 after half a decade with Lazio.

Unfortunately, he was forced to retire earlier than he would’ve liked after medical tests found an issue with his heart. Still, his career lasted until he was 36. Not a bad innings.

CM: Ramires

The third player in this XI that lifted the Champions League trophy with Chelsea, Ramires had a relatively low-key end to his career after departing Stamford Bridge in 2016.

The midfielder spent three years in China with Jiangsu Suning before one final season back in Brazil with Palmeiras. He signed a four-year deal with the club but left by mutual consent after 18 months and retired at the age of 33.

He’s since appeared in the odd charity match and looks considerably more hench than he did in his playing days.

FWR: Robinho

Robinho played at the top level for longer than you might remember, one of only eight men to have received 100 caps for Brazil. But his achievements in football are grimly overshadowed by his life off the pitch.

In 2017, an Italian court sentenced Robinho to nine years in prison after he and five others were convicted of sexual assault in the gang rape of a 22-year-old Albanian woman at a Milan nightclub. After years of legal issues, last year he finally began to serve the sentence back in Brazil.

The right flank in this XI has not aged well, let’s be honest.

AMC: Ganso

Ah, Ganso. We had such high hopes for Neymar’s best mate – who also made it debut in this friendly. Only seven further caps would follow, though.

Safe to say the old-fashioned, foot-on-the-ball playmaker never quite reached the heights of his old pal. He didn’t pull up any trees at Sevilla, nor on loan at Amiens, and promptly returned to Brazilian football.

He’s now gearing up for his seventh season with Fluminense, with whom he won the Copa Libertadores a couple of years back. That’s still a career most could only dream of, to be fair.

FWL: Neymar

Back at Santos and showing some promising signs of his old self, Neymar was recently recalled for Brazil’s upcoming qualifiers against Colombia and Argentina.

Unfortunately he’s just suffered another injury setback and was forced to withdraw from the squad, replaced by Real Madrid wonderkid Endrick, but we still hold hope he can go on and enjoy a fairytale final chapter on the international stage.

“The return seemed so close, but unfortunately I won’t be able to wear the most important jersey in the world for the moment,” Neymar wrote on Instagram.

“We had long conversations and everyone knows of my desire to return, but we agreed that it’s best not to take any risks and prepare as best as possible to completely eradicate the injury.”

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

ST: Alexandre Pato

This was back when Pato was at the peak of his powers at AC Milan, looking set to follow in Kaka’s footsteps to become an absolute world-beater.

Things never quite worked out that way, with Pato probably never better bettering his early yeats at the San Siro.

After returning to Brazil to sign for Corinthians in 2013, Pato would later represent Chelsea, Villarreal, Orlando City and Tianjin Tianhai alongside three separate stints with Sao Paolo. But it was ever dimishing returns before he called it quits in 2023.

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