HE SHALL GO TO THE BALL

Neymar is Brazil’s record goalscorer but hasn’t played for the national team for three years. He was part of the greatest attack of all time – MSN – but never won a Ballon d’Or. A generational talent who arguably butchered his career with money-fuelled moves to PSG and Saudi Arabia. After too many off-pitch controversies to count – only this month, he slapped a Santos teammate, Robinho Jr, in training – Neymar will be remembered as much for knack (including the injury that kept him out of that 7-1 defeat by Germany – as he will for the nutmegs, the rainbow flicks, the Remontada heroics, his Pausa, Bigger Cup triumphs, and Puskas Award goal. The overarching feeling for many is “yes, what a player”, but also, “what a waste”.

That is, at least, the view from Europe, and when it comes to the Geopolitics World Cup that view matters not one jot. Simply put, the European mind (save for Carlo Ancelotti, of course) cannot comprehend how different the standpoint is in Brazil, where Neymar remains a sort of demi-deity – seemingly the last bastion of jogo bonito and the essence of the Selecao; both a symbol of its glorious past and its recent struggle. No Brazil team has ever gone longer than the current 24-year World Cup drought. After decades of collective suffering – Neymar and Brazil are in desperate need of redemption and glory. In a deeply Catholic country, those themes are overwhelmingly seductive.

One only needs to watch the videos of people reacting to Neymar’s inclusion in Ancelotti’s Brazil squad to get a sense of it. Grown men were reduced to hot salty tears of joy (and fits of destruction), there were parties in the streets and schoolchildren – so young that they were not even born when Neymar was in his Barcelona pomp – chanted wildly in celebration, apparently hard-wired in their devotion. “Neymar will be an important player for us at the World Cup,” soothed Ancelotti. “We realised that in this last period he had continuity and was in good physical condition.” Not to mention 11 goals and four assists in his last 18 matches for a relegation-threatened Santos.

Neymar’s domestic form and a complete lack of it for João Pedro in a Brazil shirt – no goals or assists in eight appearances to date – is probably lost on many commentators and Social Media Disgrace influencers complaining on Tuesday at Ancelotti’s omission of the Chelsea forward. And while that was a surprise, it’s probably best not to question Ancelotti, one of the greatest managers of all time with five Bigger Cups to his name. You’re better off with Ancelotti than without him and if you don’t believe that, just have a look at how Real Madrid are doing at the moment.

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QUOTE OF THE DAY

“I have no idea [about] that. They don’t have to do anything, honestly. The important thing in our lives is when you look back and say, ‘wow, you can look with a big smile and that is good’. And Bernardo [Silva] can feel that and John [Stones] can feel that. We spoke about that in last days and about [what] we lived. So when you are an old grandfather and you look back and you can laugh for the memories” – Pep Guardiola reckons he doesn’t need the new North Stand naming after him when he leaves Manchester City at the end of the season because memories of the good times – and he’s had a few – are more than enough.

FOOTBALL DAILY LETTERS

If Tottenham Hotspur get relegated (which is every Arsenal fan’s fantasy), when do we achieve next season’s St Totteringham’s Day? Do we mark it on the final day of this season or do we carry over the occasion to the opening day of the next one?” – Ronald Kondowe.

Given that Burnley have bounced between the bottom of the Premier League and the top of the Championship a couple of times in recent memory, is it time to replace their parachute payment with a yo-yo payment?” – Peter Oh.

Surely we have to doff our collective caps to the once ‘Special One’, then ‘Happy One’, then ‘Desperate for a Job One’ and, somewhat inevitably, the ‘Lucky that Real Madrid are Even More Desperate Than He is One’. His Benfica have just gone through the whole league season unbeaten. That surely puts them up there with Arsenal’s so-called ‘Invincibles’, who also went through the season unbeaten (if you ignore them losing once in the FA Cup, twice to Middlesbrough in the Milk Cup and three times in the Big Cup that is). That’s the way this works, right? Hold on a minute. Benfica finished where?” – Noble Francis.

If you have any, please send letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s prizeless letter o’ the day winner is … Noble Francis. Terms and conditions for our competitions, when we run them, are here. 

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