Neymar's Fury Over Santos Pitch After Injury
Neymar rages at ‘worst pitch the club has ever seen’ after injury in Santos exit
The scoreboard said 0-0. The tie, long gone after a 3-0 first-leg defeat to Palmeiras, drifted to its inevitable conclusion. But the real explosion at Vila Belmiro came after the final whistle – and it came from Neymar.
The Brazilian star limped off at the end of the first half with a thigh problem during Santos’ Copa do Brasil quarter-final exit. His team could not overturn the damage from the first leg. The pitch, in his eyes, made sure of that.
By the time he reached his phone, the frustration had hardened into fury.
“I would like to congratulate the person responsible for the Vila Belmiro stadium pitch,” he wrote on Instagram, the sarcasm dripping off the screen.
Then he dropped the niceties.
“What happened yesterday was the worst pitch the club has ever seen. It was full of holes because of works carried out one day before the match. Unbelievable! Alongside playing against the opponent, we were also playing against the pitch.”
The surface became the villain of the night. Neymar’s anger painted a picture of a field ripped up and patched late, a stage unworthy of a national cup quarter-final. For a side already chasing a three-goal deficit, every bobble felt like another obstacle.
The forward went further, tying the conditions directly to the physical toll on the squad.
“And to make matters worse, we had to make a greater effort because of its dreadful condition. No wonder 3 players were injured in the first half. Well done indeed... very poor work!”
His own body was one of the casualties. Forced off before the interval, he admitted the concern but tried to steady the mood.
“Unfortunately, I felt discomfort in my thigh. I will undergo tests, and I hope it is not serious. We will keep our morale up and focus on what is coming.”
So while Santos processed another cup exit and worried over their star, the debate shifted away from tactics and selection. The grass itself took centre stage.
Palmeiras, already comfortable on the scoreboard, did not let the comments pass. They countered with a pointed statement of their own, turning Neymar’s criticism into an opportunity to underline their standards.
The club highlighted the condition of their own pitch, stressing that it receives daily maintenance and is kept in “perfect” shape. That care, they argued, gives their players greater security and helps protect them from the sort of injuries that marred the night at Vila Belmiro.
They backed it up with a statistic: over the past five years, Palmeiras say they are the Brazilian top-flight club least affected by injuries. It was less a neutral boast and more a direct jab at the Santos forward’s complaints.
On the field, Palmeiras had already done the talking across two legs. Off it, the war of words over grass, injuries and responsibility now lingers, with Neymar waiting on scan results and Santos forced to look at their own backyard – quite literally – before they can look ahead.
