July 31 – Brazil’s World Cup talisman Neymar has come clean about his histrionics in Russia, admitting in an advertisement that he ‘exaggerated’ his reactions when fouled during the tournament, but his mea culpa has already backfired, the player coming in for heavy criticism in Brazil.
Neymar’s behaviour was Brazil’s main talking during the World Cup as the five-time world champions exited Russia at the quarter-finals stage with a narrow defeat to Belgium. He was ridiculed the world over for his overly dramatic reactions to the merest hint of a touch from an opposition player. Neymar was also accused of diving in various games.
After Brazil’s elimination, Neymar refused to talk to the press, but in a surprise move, a good 20 days after the 90 minutes against Belgium, Neymar has stood up and offered a mea culpa. In a 90-second video made for his sponsor Gillette, he said: “Studs on my calf, knee in my back, stamp on my foot,” he said. “You might think I exaggerate and sometimes I really do exaggerate. But the fact is that I suffer on the field. There’s still a child inside me. Sometimes he enchants the world and sometimes he irritates the world.”
In the advertisement he offers a mea culpa, points at the overzealous challenges he faces and says that he will be a new man. Neymar scored twice at the World Cup after returning from injury. He didn’t impress sufficiently to be included in the shortlist for the FIFA’s Best awards, but in the ad he implied that he will bounce back.
“You may think I’ve fallen too much, but the reality is I did not fall,” said Neymar in the video. “I crumbled. And that hurts more than anyone stepping on your operated ankle. I took time to accept your criticism. I took time to look at myself in the mirror and become a new man. But now I’m here, with my heart wide open. I fell but only those who fall can get up. You can keep throwing rocks at me or you can throw your rocks away and help me get up because when I do get up, the whole country gets up with me.”
But Neymar has come in for criticism again as a direct consequence of his advertising for Gillette. In Brazil, he is accused of turning the polemic into another money-making venture. Brazil newspaper O Globo reported that the player was paid about $250,000 for the ad.
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