When chaos took over the joy during first-half stoppage time of Brazil’s 4-1 rout of Paraguay in the Copa America, it wasn’t hard to see Vinicius Junior as the master of a tempestuous universe at Nevada’s Allegiant Stadium. Everyone else was simply living in it and, unless they were of Paraguayan descent, enjoying it.
Vinicius stepped on the gas to crown a great collective move and open the scoring after Lucas Paquetá made a mistake from the penalty spot. Rising star Savio made it 2-0 in no time and, by the time Vini Jr. started dancing down the left flank, Paraguay had seen enough.
Well, Sao Paulo midfielder Damian Bobadilla had seen enough and the rest of his team-mates agreed. After making Fabian Balbuena dance, Vinicius played the ball over Bobadilla. Paraguay’s No.8 could now represent Pele’s club, but he wasn’t about to let this go and pushed his tormentor to the turf.
Players from both teams piled on to push and jostle some more. This is the Copa America, after all. Referee Piero Maza, in a move he instantly regretted, stepped away from most of the rowing groups to caution Brazilian left-back Wendell, who had come to Vinicius’s defence. When Maza looked back at him, he must have felt like a substitute teacher who was way over his head. There was low-level misconduct all around. The funniest thing was that Vini was badmouthing the Paraguayans.
Maza could have chosen to take the teams back to the changing rooms at that point. Unfortunately for Paraguay, he didn’t. When play resumed, Paqueta threw a speculative pass over the top for Rodygo to chase. Omar Alderete, adrenaline and anger seemingly clouding his concentration, misread the situation. He positioned himself haphazardly between Rodrygo and the ball but failed to notice Vinicius, who darted out of his peripheral vision to intercept it and slot home his second goal of the night.
The goal itself won’t quite make the dazzling highlights of Vinicius’ career a reality, but it was a moment when a supreme player said he would not be broken by physicality and intimidation. Thankfully, it was a more cartoonish display of his granite will. Vinicius has been forced to endure sickening racist abuse while at Real Madrid, the persistence of which is a horrible stain on the football authorities in Spain and the game in general.
In the face of this and other provocations, fans are drawn to Vinicius because he is the footballer one would like to be, one who seems to be having the time of his life in moments like those in Nevada. He is the latest incarnation of a sometimes tired and distorted Brazil. Nice Game And right then, with the score at 3-0 and the game tied, he nodded towards the man who carried that flame for a decade but who may not do so anymore. Putting his hands open on either side of his head and sticking out his tongue, Vinicius did the Neymar celebration.
Are Vinicius Jr and Neymar friends?
The story of the young pretender ascending to the throne is a well-worn one, and often fraught with bitterness, but you won’t find any of that here.
Neymar was in the stands at Allegiant Stadium. The 32-year-old Al Hilal striker celebrated the goals scored by a player nine years his junior with an enthusiasm rarely seen when he himself scores.
Since breaking into the Brazil national team in 2019, Neymar has taken Vinicius under his wing and the pair have become great friends.
After Vini scored the 2-0 that gave Real Madrid the victory in the UEFA Champions League final, Neymar told Bola that his compatriot should win the Ballon d’OrThis might surprise some, given Neymar’s career-long pursuit of football’s most prestigious inpidual prize, a quest cloaked in the vanity of himself and those around him, which now seems doomed to failure.
Neymar is in the stands at the Copa América while he recovers from an anterior cruciate ligament injury. It’s been making rounds in the media. And his ease with Vinicius was demonstrated once again with a recent playful taunt.
“The ugliest player I’ve ever played with? I’ve played with so many, man, it’s a good competition,” he joked. “With all due respect… Vini Jr, it hurts, man.” [laughs]Look, Vini, I love you, but bro. The good thing is that he’s funny, so that makes up for it.
Neymar’s reaction to Vini’s two goals ?
She is so happy for him. image.twitter.com/RrHdoEuopJ—Sh (@Sha92fc) June 29, 2024
How good was Neymar?
During Neymar’s elite career (imagining it would end as he recovered from a serious injury in his 30s before resuming the lesser sporting challenge of the Saudi Pro League is a safe guess), laughter was harder to detect.
His reputation suffered an irreparable blow in the eyes of many football fans when he left Barcelona to join Paris Saint-Germain for a then-record fee of €222 million in August 2017. At Barca, his team-mates included Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez. Neymar completed the best forward line in modern football that won a treble in 2015.
But life at Camp Nou would always be lived, to a greater or lesser extent, in Messi’s shadow. So Neymar and his advisors decided to disassociate themselves. At PSG, it would be the number onethe player who led the club to its first Champions League crown and all the associated accolades.
Although Neymar’s career in Paris was statistically a phenomenal success, as has been the case everywhere he has played, the Champions League and therefore the Ballon d’Or remained out of reach. He failed under the conditions he imposed, conditions that made the world’s most celebrated team sport revolve around him.
Criticism and ridicule followed, with some pundits using every misplaced pass and theatrical fall to reinforce their confirmation bias. He was a showman, a player who prioritised style over substance for the social media age. “Proper” football would have eaten him alive.
This is unfortunate because, as unfortunate as Neymar’s career choices have been (letting PSG amass paltry riches in Saudi Arabia only prolonged a decade of PR disasters), he is one of the most talented and wonderful players of the 21st century. You could probably only rank two (yes, those two) above him with any certainty.
Neymar’s career statistics
| Equipment | Games | Goals | Aid | G+A |
| Saints | 206 | 123 | 57 | 180 |
| Barcelona | 186 | 105 | 76 | 181 |
| Paris Saint Germain | 173 | 118 | 77 | 195 |
| Al-Hilal | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Brazil | 128 | 79 | 59 | 138 |
| Brazilian Olympic Team | 12 | 7 | 7 | 14 |
| TOTAL | 710 | 433 | 279 | 712 |
The highlight of all this is the ridiculous figure of 712 goals in 710 games for club and country over a professional career that began with Santos in 2009. Wherever he played, Neymar performed at a phenomenal level. His teams won and improved.
It’s ironic that Neymar is most often associated with not winning the Champions League with PSG or the World Cup with Brazil. An ankle injury ruled him out of Brazil’s success at the 2019 Copa America, but he has won just about everything else, and many times over.
Trophies won by Neymar
- Brazil Cup (2010)
- Paulista Championship (2010)
- Libertadores Cup (2011)
- South American Recopa (2012)
- FIFA Confederations Cup (2013)
- Spanish Super Cup (2013)
- La Liga (2014/15, 2015/16)
- King’s Cup (2014/15, 2015/16, 2016/17)
- UEFA Champions League (2014/15)
- FIFA Club World Cup (2015)
- Olympic Games (2016)
- Liga 1 (2017/18, 2018/19, 2019/20, 2021/22, 2022/23)
- French Cup (2017/18, 2019/20, 2020/21)
- League Cup (2017/18, 2019/20)
- Champions Trophy (2018, 2020, 2022)
- Saudi Professional League (2023/24)
Will Vinicius be better than Neymar?
The weight of numbers and the achievements mentioned above make it a difficult task. Vinicius can have an incredible, world-class career without being considered as good as Neymar.
But in the battle of perceptions, Vinicius could very likely end this year with a major international honour and the Ballon d’Or under his belt, meaning he will be very well placed.
Something that really works in Vinicius’ favour is the way he has become one of the biggest names of the post-Messi and Ronaldo era. It may take him a little time to adapt, but this unprecedented era of the superhero player – who shaped Neymar as a footballer for the better and Neymar as a personality for the worse – is coming to an end.
Neymar emerged as a complete bag of tricks at Santos, joining Barcelona as Messi’s heir and PSG as the man who would eat up football.
Vinicius arrived at Real Madrid from Flamengo as a teenager and gradually became part of the team at a time when the economic reality was turning off the dial of the Galácticos. He learned to shine first as a teammate and as one more of the collective. His brilliant connection with Rodrygo shows the fruits of this every time he steps on the field.
Greatness was not preordained. Moreover, at international level, the trend of asking a player to be the messiah has proven to be a dead end. Ronaldo and Messi suffered much pain in their heyday with Portugal and Argentina. When Portugal triumphed at Euro 2016, it did so by playing deeply pragmatic football, winning a match in 90 minutes and with Ronaldo injured for most of the final.
Messi’s Copa America and World Cup successes with Argentina came in the autumn of his career, when Lionel Scaloni built a team around his long-standing strengths and more recent weaknesses. The previous decade in which Messi was asked to simply prove he was the equal of the 1986 version of Diego Maradona was incredibly misguided in modern football.
This means that Vinicius doesn’t need to be the new Neymar and can use his great friend’s experiences as inspiration and warning. Being the post-Neymar hero for a football-mad country that hasn’t played in a World Cup since 2002 is something worth doing. As we all saw against Paraguay, Vinicius doesn’t need to be a new or better version of Neymar for us all to listen to him. And that could well lead to greater satisfaction in the long run.
