Neymar hits out at Brazilians for lack of national team support

The PSG star believes his countrymen don’t appreciate the Celecao as much as they used to.

Neymar revealed last year that he would play his last World Cup next summer. The Brazilian star suggested he might not be able to deal with the mental struggles of playing for the national team any longer.

Brazil have already secured a place in the next summer’s competition as they lead the South America qualifiers. Neymar has once again opened up on his relationship with the national team, this time criticizing Celecao’s fans.

“Today the national team has distanced itself from the fans,” Neymar told Ronaldo Nazario on the Fenomenos podcast.

“I don’t know why, but I see it through the games,

“There is little comment, few people know when we are going to play. And that’s bad, it’s sad. In this generation of mine, when the national team plays, it’s no longer important.“

He added: “When I was a child, the national team match was an event. You put the Brazilian flag in the window. There was a barbecue, there was cake and there was everything at home. It was quite an event.

“Today it no longer has that importance, I don’t know how we got to this stage. I hope that everything will come back, that the fans will once again support the Brazilian team.

“That we’ll be together to go in search of the World Cup, which is what everyone wants.”

Neymar will spearhead Brazil’s dreams of winning a sixth World Cup for the third time. In the 2014 World Cup, he suffered a horrible back injury before Brazil’s humiliating 7-1 defeat against Germany. Four years later, Neymar’s efforts in the Russia World Cup were only able to get Brazil as far as the semi-finals.