Neymar Critiques Santos Pitch After Injury During Copa do Brasil Exit

Neymar left Vila Belmiro limping and furious – and he saved his fiercest tackle for the pitch.

Santos crashed out of the Copa do Brasil with a goalless home draw against Palmeiras in the quarter-final second leg, a result that never threatened to overturn their 3-0 defeat from the first game. The football was flat. The mood was anything but.

Right on the stroke of half-time, Neymar pulled up with a thigh problem and had to come off. The frustration of an early exit and a fresh injury quickly turned into open anger at the state of Santos’ own turf.

“I would like to congratulate the person responsible for the Vila Belmiro stadium pitch.”

The tone then snapped.

“What happened yesterday was the worst pitch the club has ever seen,” he wrote. “It was full of holes because of works carried out one day before the match. Unbelievable! Alongside playing against the opponent, we were also playing against the pitch.”

For Neymar, this was not just a gripe about aesthetics. He linked the surface directly to the physical toll on the players.

“And to make matters worse, we had to make a greater effort because of its dreadful condition. No wonder 3 players were injured in the first half. Well done indeed... very poor work!”

His own setback only sharpened the criticism. “Unfortunately, I felt discomfort in my thigh. I will undergo tests, and I hope it is not serious. We will keep our morale up and focus on what is coming,” he added, trying to pivot from outrage to resolve.

If Santos were licking their wounds, Palmeiras chose to twist the knife.

The São Paulo giants issued a pointed, mocking statement of their own, turning Neymar’s complaints into an opportunity for a public boast. They “praised” the condition of their pitch, underlining that it receives daily maintenance and, in their words, remains in perfect condition.

Palmeiras stressed that the quality of their surface makes players feel more secure and highlighted one statistic to back it up: over the past five years, they are the Brazilian top-flight club least affected by injuries, according to their data.

The message was clear. While Neymar blamed the ground under his feet, Palmeiras held up theirs as a model – and used the Santos idol’s anger as a springboard to underline the gulf between the rivals on and off the ball.