Neymar Jr

Neymar Jr Biography

Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior, popularly known in the world as Neymar Jr., is a Brazilian footballer who was born in Mogi das Cruzes, São Paulo on February 5, 1992, and plays as an extreme or second striker. He is the son of Nadine, his mother and Neymar Santos who is his father, from whom he inherited his name and passion for football since in the past he was also a footballer. From a very young age, Neymar showed his love for futsal and street football and it was in these sports that he began to show all his football talent.

Neymar began to venture into the world of football, playing indoor soccer motivated by Betinho and then go through clubs like Gremental and Portuguese Santista, small football clubs in the city of Santos. In 2003, when he was only 11 years old he was signed by Santos one of the most famous and important teams in his country where famous players such as Bruno Coutinho, Pelé, Martins, Clodoaldo Tavares de Santana, Diego Walsh, Elano, and Alex had played.

In 2005, Real Madrid was interested in his talent and traveled to perform the relevant tests to play in the club which happened satisfactorily. However, the transfer would not occur as Santos paid more than one million reais to keep him in their squad. The player had a rapid advance in the lower categories, demonstrating in each of them his skill and speed in dribbling with the ball which allowed him to be promoted to the first team in 2009.

On March 7, 2009, Neymar debuted as a professional at Santos at the age of 17, in a game against Oeste in which he played the last 30 minutes of the game. His first goal in the team would be a week after his debut against Mogi Mirim and on April 11 of that same year, he would score a decisive goal in the first leg semifinal against Palmeiras, which his team won 2-1. The final of that season, unfortunately, he would lose 4-2 to Corinthians, being the end of his first season in which he managed to score 14 goals in 48 games.

In 2010 he was crowned champion of the Paulista championship in São Paulo, in which he scored 14 goals in 19 games and was chosen as the best player of the season by scoring 42 goals in 70 games. All these accolades made Neymar start to be compared to players like Robinho who was one of his idols and King Pelé icon of Brazilian soccer.

In the Copa Libertadores 2011 managed to be in third place in the table of scorers of the championship after scoring 6 goals; championship in which he played the final with his team Santos against the historic Peñarol of Uruguay. In the first leg, there was a tie to zero and in the return, the Santos managed a tight victory by 2-1 and would give the championship to the Brazilian team which in turn was the first club-level international title that Neymar got, in that match the player scored the first goal of the game. On December 14, 2011, his team started the participation in the Club World Cup in which he faced Kashiwa Reysol for the semifinals, a match they won 3-1 and in which Neymar scored a goal. The final of that tournament would be played against F.C Barcelona of Spain, the result ended in a massive defeat by 4-0 in favor of the Spanish team. On December 31, 2011, Neymar managed to win the South American Player of the Year award and the World Soccer Award for the best young player in the world. In addition, he would start the year 2012, winning the Puskas Award for the best goal of the year.

Neymar achieved his first 100 goals on February 5, 2012, in a game against Palmeiras corresponding to the championship in São Paulo, this date would be very important for the player since he achieved that number of goals on the day of his 20th birthday. In October that same year, the footballer achieved another important event in his career, as he played his 200th game with the Santos shirt against Atletico Mineiro, the match ended 2-2 and Neymar scored a goal, also received a plate commemorative on behalf of the club. At the end of the 2012 season, he also won the gold prize and Globolinha de Ouro prize for the best goal of the Brazilian championship.

In 2013, Neymar again expressed the desire to play in a European club like Chelsea, Barcelona or Real Madrid, so in that year he did not renew his contract with Santos and on May 26, the signing of the Brazilian player to Barcelona FC for 5 seasons and a value of approximately 57 million euros became official.

His debut in Barcelona was in the game of the first day of the 2013-2014 season against Levante. He entered the 63rd minute and his team won by a score of 7-0. His first goal with the Blaugrana shirt was scored on September 21, 2013, in the game for the Spanish Super Cup against Atlético de Madrid. Later, his first “El Clasico” against Real Madrid on October 26 of that same year, in which he managed to contribute a goal to the 2-1 victory of his team. For the 2014-2015 season, Neymar amounted to 30 goals in what was going on the same, scoring teams like Elche, Bilbao, Granada and Real Madrid by the league; Atlético de Madrid and Villareal by the king’s cup; and Paris Saint-Germain for the UEFA Champions League. In May 2015, Barcelona played the semifinals of the champions league against Bayern Munich, in which Neymar scored a goal in the first leg in Barcelona which won 3-0; the second match in Munich would be a defeat for Barcelona 3-2 in which the Brazilian player would score both goals for his team with which he contributed to a 5-3 aggregate score in favor of his team and gave them the pass at the end of the European competition.

On May 17th Neymar and Barcelona secured the title of the league with a 1-0 victory against Atletico Madrid, which was one more title in the career of the player. On May 30th, he won the final of the King’s Cup against Athletic Bilbao with a score of 3-1 and in which he contributed a goal. In the final match of the Champions League against Juventus of Italy on 6 June 2015, Neymar scored the third goal of his team, in what was the victory of Barcelona 3-1 and what could be done to the title of the most important competition at the level of European clubs. This was the first title of the player at the level of all European clubs, in addition, he became the eighth player in history to win and score a goal in the finals of the Copa Libertadores and Champions League.

In December 2015, Neymar participated with the F.C Barcelona in the Club World Cup, where he started his way in the semifinal round against Guangzhou China’s Evergrande which won 3-0 with a hat-trick of Uruguayan Luis Suárez, which would lead the Blaugrana team to semifinals. The final of this competition would be played against the historic River Plate of Argentina which was defeated 3-0 with two goals from Luis Suarez and one from Lionel Messi. Neymar played the 90 minutes in both matches of the Club World Cup and although he did not score, became one of the historical players after winning the three most important competitions in the world at club level, the Copa Libertadores, the UEFA Champions League and the FIFA Club World Cup.

On August 3, 2017, after much speculation, the transfer of Neymar to Paris Saint-Germain Football Club became official, for a figure that reached 222 million euros. On August 5 of that same year, the Brazilian player was presented at the Parc des Princes stadium, where he was cheered by thousands of fans. By October 23, 2017, Neymar was part of the FIFA / FIFPro World XI chosen by FIFA, which refers to the ideal eleven of the season. On January 1, 2018, he won the “Samba de Oro 2017” award, for having been the best Brazilian player in Europe.

BRAZIL NATIONAL TEAM

In 2009, he was part of the team selected to face the U-17 World Cup in Nigeria. In this competition, Neymar played 3 games in which scored a goal to Japan. In 2011, he was part of the team that faced the South American U-20 in Peru, in which he scored 9 goals in 7 games. For the year 2012, Neymar was called to be part of the Brazilian national team to participate in the Olympic Games in London. For the group stage he scored a goal to Egypt in the 3-2 Brazil victory, in the second game he scored a goal and gave an assist with which his team defeated Belarus 3-1, in the last match by group stage Brazil won 3-0 to New Zealand, the player did not score a goal. In the quarterfinals phase, Brazil faced Honduras, a rival that beat 3-2 and Neymar scored a goal. The player was runner-up in this competition as the Brazilian national team lost the final 2-1 against Mexico.

In 2016, Neymar was on the squad to face the Olympic Games that took place in Rio de Janeiro, a competition that in which he was very elusive to the Brazilian team and with which Neymar wanted to win the only title that his country lacked at the national team level. The path of the player and his team to achieve the gold medal would start well as they managed to overcome the group stage after two draws to zero against South Africa and Iraq and a 4-0 victory against Denmark. In the quarterfinals, Brazil faced Colombia, which they defeated 2-0, a match in which Neymar scored and gave an assist. In the semifinals the Brazilian player managed to score 2 goals in the convincing 6-0 victory against Honduras and finally in the dispute for the Olympic gold medal against Germany, Brazil won in definition from the penalty point (5-4 in favor of Brazil), after a 1-1 aggregate in which Neymar scored and managed to be crowned Olympic champions with the Brazilian National Team.

Neymar was called for the first time to the absolute Brazilian national team on July 26, 2010, to face a friendly match against the United States. His debut was on August 10 of that year when he played the game wearing the shirt number 11. In that game, Neymar would score a goal that contributed to the victory of Brazil 2-0. His first official competition in the senior team was in the 2011 American Cup played in Argentina, a competition in which he managed to score two goals against Ecuador. Unfortunately, Brazil would be eliminated by Paraguay in the quarterfinals phase.

The talent of Neymar made him become a key player in the calls to the absolute team of Brazil, so on May 14, 2013, his name appeared in the list of called of Brazil to face the Confederations Cup that would be celebrated in his native country. The green team won the title after beating Spain by a score of 3-0 in which Neymar scored a goal and left cheered by his excellent participation, so good was the performance that he was chosen as the best player in the game. He played in 4 of the 5 matches played, becoming the winner of the gold ball as the best player in the competition.

Neymar managed to consolidate himself in the Brazilian national team, so he was taken into account by coach Luis Felipe Scolari in the squad list that was published on April 24, 2014, to face the World Cup that would be played in Brazil. In his first World Cup, Neymar disputed 5 games and scored 4 goals, in the quarterfinal game, Neymar ended up injured by a fracture in the third lumbar vertebra after a blow by Camilo Zúñiga.

In the year 2015, the Brazilian coach Dunga, called Neymar to dispute the 2015 Copa America of Chile in which he converted a goal and an assist in two games played as he would be sanctioned for an incident that occurred in the match against the Colombian national team. Neymar played the qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, where he managed to score 6 goals and be one of the most outstanding players in his team. In addition, on October 11, 2017, the player was part of the team that ratified his qualification to the 2018 World Cup with the Brazilian team.