Neymar calls Thiago Mendes a "jerk" after clash in Santos v Vasco | OneFootball

Neymar and Thiago Mendes had a disagreement this Thursday during the match between Santos and Vasco, valid for the fourth round of the Brazilian Championship, at Vila Belmiro.

The confusion began right after the goal scored by Peixe’s number 10, at 24 minutes into the first half. Neymar and Thiago Mendes exchanged provocations, and the forward even fell to the pitch claiming he had been headbutted by the Vasco player. Referee Rafael Rodrigo Klein punished both with a yellow card.

“Always him. He always wants to cause trouble, wants to act tough. It’s always like that. With all due respect, he’s a jerk. He broke me at PSG, provoked me today. Let’s see if he’s man enough to break me again,” Neymar told Premiere.

After the match, Thiago Mendes gave his version of the events. The Vasco player said he asked for respect after the Santos star told the visiting fans to “shut up,” but sees the provocation as something normal in football.

“It’s normal, it’s football. Everyone has to defend their team. I just asked for a little respect because of his celebration—he told our fans to shut up. I didn’t say anything out of line. It’s part of the game, but today it was just Neymar’s game, the referee only called for him, not for us,” said Thiago Mendes.

The history between the two goes back to 2020. In December of that year, when he was playing for Paris Saint-Germain, Neymar suffered a sprained left ankle after a hard tackle from Thiago Mendes, who was then playing for Lyon. The star left the field on a stretcher, in tears. Later that same day, the current Vasco midfielder publicly apologized.

In total, Neymar and Thiago Mendes have faced each other eight times over their careers: five wins for the Santos player, two for the Vasco player, and one draw.

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This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.