Brazil superstar Neymar posts video responding to social media meme’s showing he has now missed games on his sister’s birthday 11 times in 12 years after he pulled out of a Serie A match
Neymar has responded to annual claims of the “sister’s birthday curse” after he sat out a match on March 11 for the 11th time in 12 seasons.
He was due to play for his boyhood club Santos against Mirassol in front of Brazil manager Carlos Ancelotti on the day of his sister Rafaella Santos’ milestone 30th birthday.
Instead, the former Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain winger was ruled out of the Serie A clash shortly before kick-off because of muscle tightness, an absence that quickly reignited one of football’s most eyebrow-raising coincidences.
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The only year he has played on Rafaella’s special day was for PSG against Bordeaux in 2022. The streak was technically interrupted in 2020, although that was due to the global shutdown caused by the Covid-19 pandemic rather than a regular match schedule.
But with Neymar back on the sidelines for Santos’ 1-1 draw with Mirassol, social media went into overdrive, causing the Brazillian superstar to post his own video response to silence the conspiracy theorists.
He said: “A lot of people are coming up with many theories about what’s happening to me. If I play injured, like they said last year, I’m wrong. If I think only about myself, I’m wrong.
“If I hold back, I’m wrong. If I play with pain or with something that could get worse, I’m wrong. It’s complicated. It’s very hard to get it right. Very hard to please everyone.”
Neymar added: “And what surprises me the most are the people, these people who seem to be by my side every day and start making up stories to say this, talking as if it were the greatest truth in the world, as if they were the owners of reason.
“It’s too hard to be me. I have to be patient to put up with it.”
There is no indication that the Selecao star is pulling a fast one to spend time with his sister. The siblings have a close relationship, with Rafaella’s face tattooed on Neymar’s arm and Neymar’s eyes inked onto Rafaella’s back.
But it is now becoming an annual occurrance on the football calendar for Neymar fans and haters alike to keep an eye on, in the same way St Totteringham Day is a big deal for Arsenal fans.