Remembering when a young Neymar destroyed Ruben Amorim’s playing career | OneFootball

There’s a certain ‘Polar Bear in Arkansas’ sensation about famous managers and their playing careers.

Take the likes of Zinedine Zidane and Johan Cruyff out of the equation, trophy-laden internationals regarded as legends of the sport.

Discount Pep Guardiola and Carlo Ancelotti, superb players for both club and country during their glittering on-field days.

And disregard those like Jurgen Klopp and Jose Mourinho, who were solid professionals without threatening to hit the heights.

But the real gold is found in future managers whose playing days were more than adequate, but with no hints of their later significance to our lives.

So it’s with rubbed eyes and mouths agape that we stumbled across footage of Ruben Amorim having his blood twisted by Neymar during a 2013 friendly between Brazil and Portugal.

Amorim won 14 caps for Portugal, playing at both the 2010 and 2014 World Cups for his country.

As we were too busy laughing at England and falling in love with Chile at the time, this completely passed us by.

The midfielder, who spent the majority of his career with Benfica, was part of the Portuguese squad that travelled to Boston to face Neymar and Brazil.

The autumn of 2013 was arguably the peak of Neymar’s reputation. Having just joined Barcelona, we were all aware of his vast talent without being ground down by years of injury, ego and d*ckheadness.

He’d just guided Brazil to Confederations Cup glory (ask your nearest millennial) and was the face of the following year’s World Cup in his home country. Which was bound to end in more glory, of course.

Aged just 21, Neymar toyed with Portugal during this 3-1 victory. His corner was nodded home by Thiago Silva, before he dribbled past several opponents to score the second.

With joy in his heart and impudence in his boots, Neymar was in an exhibitionist mood. This went down like an excrement-filled Pastel de Nata with a certain future Manchester United boss.

As Neymar waltzed down the touchline once more, with Portugal’s defence playing the role of Strictly Come Dancing judges and admiring his footwork, Amorim saw red.

One stepover sent the midfielder in the direction of New York, to widespread hollering from the American crowd.

Having lured his kill to the byline, Neymar attempted an outrageous bodyswerve that should really be under the UK Online Safety Act. Amorim held his ground, but was visibly simmering.

The Brazilian carried on with his repertoire, pulling out two drag backs, an aborted Cruyff turn and another stepover.

With the devastating finality of a perfect conversational putdown, Amorim put an end to the nonsense with an old-fashioned introduction of studs to shin.

Some say that Amorim’s humiliation is the direct cause of his obsession with 3-4-2-1, insisting on extra defensive cover to avoid his successors suffering a similar fate.

Those rumours are unconfirmed. But the little grain of truth contained within them is visible to a glass eye.

Amorim’s last appearance for Portugal came less than a year later, playing the full 90 minutes against Ghana in their third and final match of Brazil 2014.

His playing career continued for another three years, retiring at the age of 32 following the complete rupture of the cruciate ligament in his right knee.

But, spiritually, he hung up his boots immediately after being undressed by Neymar.

The sadomasochistic ability to withstand public embarrassment would later serve Amorim well at Old Trafford.