Italian coach made it clear that the number 10 must be in the best possible physical shape; according to him, absences from the squad do not mean that he will not be among the 26 who will compete in the World Cup
All four of his squads have something in common: none of his names are mentioned, as he recently recovered from an injury, but remains forgotten by the Italian coach and has not worn the Brazilian team’s shirt for more than two years.
Neymar spent 48 days without playing due to an injury to the rectus femoris muscle in his right thigh. He returned to defend on Sunday and was on the field for 23 minutes against , in the duel that ended in a 1-1 draw.
The Santos star was once again a topic at the coach’s press conference after releasing the list of athletes called up for the friendlies with Senegal and Tunisia. This time, the coach did not elaborate when talking about his choice to leave the team’s greatest scorer in history (according to FIFA’s count) out of yet another call-up. “I haven’t spoken to Neymar again. Let’s see when he can recover and play again”, he limited himself to saying.
Then, without mentioning Neymar’s name, he reinforced that he will not take an athlete with physical problems to the World Cup. “’. We need players at the top level physically.” He has reiterated that the striker does not need to be tested and imposed a condition to take him to: “A talented player also needs to be in shape. He needs to be 100%, not 80%”
Neymar was only unavailable in one of Ancelotti’s four squads. On the other three occasions, he was not called up due to the Italian’s choice. The Italian coach made it clear that the number 10 must be in the best possible physical shape. According to the coach, absences from the squad do not mean that he will not be among the 26 who will compete in the World Cup in Canada, the United States and Mexico.
Neymar decided to return to Santos at the beginning of the year and even managed to start a sequence of games in August, when he reached six consecutive matches as a starter and played all 90 minutes. However, like in Saudi Arabia, he suffered from a series of injuries. In 22 matches, 17 of them as a starter, he scored six goals and provided three assists.
*With information from Estadão Conteúdo
Published by Nátaly Tenório
