In what could be his last game for FC Santos, Neymar receives a remarkable red card—which also has consequences for his team.
When Diego Maradona died in November 2020, Neymar also spoke about an encounter with the Argentine icon. When he was twelve or thirteen, he was treated like royalty by Maradona on the sidelines of an exhibition match between Brazilian and Argentine legends. “I even have a photo with him. He called me over to take the photo,” he said.
Many years later, Neymar emulated Maradona in a different way: In the league match between FC Santos and Botafogo, the now 33-year-old Brazilian repeated the “Hand of God” by deflecting the ball into the goal with his hand, just like Maradona once did – only with a different outcome: he was rightly sent off with a yellow-red card in the 76th minute. Ten minutes later, Artur scored the 1-0 winning goal for the visitors, who were playing with a man advantage.
With Neymar now suspended and the Brazilian league taking a month-long break for the upcoming Club World Cup, this could have been the striker’s last appearance for Santos. Neymar returned to his former club in February after eleven and a half years, and his contract expires on June 30.
Neymar: “Forgive me!”
“I made a mistake, forgive me!” the red card offender wrote on his social media channels afterwards. “If I hadn’t been sent off today, we would have definitely gotten the three points. You can count those three points against me!” On the pitch, Neymar, who was immediately surrounded by numerous Botafogo players, reacted to the red card with protests.
After his disappointing interlude at Al-Hilal in Saudi Arabia, things are not going particularly well at home for the former Barca and PSG pro, who still dreams of playing in the 2026 World Cup. Due to injury, he has only started nine times so far (three goals, three assists). Newly promoted Santos are 18th with only eight points from eleven games, making them third from bottom in the table.
