Neymar, the striker of Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal, gave an interview to Globo’s Esporte Espectacular, in which he pointed to Vinícius and Rodrygo as his successors in the Brazilian national team. He spoke about the possible arrival of Carlo Ancelotti on the “canarinha” bench, assured that he will play for Santos again and described the situation that he and the Argentinian Leo Messi experienced at PSG as “hell”.

The Brazilian assured that he was very happy to see Messi winning the last World Cup with Argentina in a season that was not easy for his friend, due to the situation he experienced at PSG: “I was very happy for the year he had, but at the same time very sad, because he experienced both sides of the coin. He reached heaven with the Argentine national team, while with PSG he lived like hell. We lived through hell, both he and I.

Messi left PSG in a way that, from a football point of view, he did not deserve. For everything he is, everything he does, everyone who knows him knows. He’s a guy who trains hard, if he loses he gets angry, but he was unfairly accused, in my opinion. It made me very happy that he won the World Cup. As you said, the football was fair this time. Messi deserved to end his career like this”.

Asked if he sees Real Madrid players Vinícius and Rodrygo with the ability to take the lead that Neymar now has in Brazil, the Al Hilal forward had no doubt: “Vini and Rodrygo are two players of great quality, two stars who will certainly will take this role. In my opinion, they are already leaders because they have already established the name, whether I am there or not.

I’ve never been a selfish guy, on the contrary, the more protagonists you have in your team, the better your team will be. I am happy that they are reaching this level, that they are already helping the Brazilian national team, which is very important. They are two guys I really like. Vini and Rodrygo are two friends, I talk a lot with both of them”.

Regarding the possible arrival of Carlo Ancelotti, the current coach of Real Madrid, on the Brazilian bench, Neymar opened the doors of the national team: “If it is Ancelotti, he will be very well received, he is a well-known coach, who has won everything in his career.

If I have the chance, I will definitely enjoy it a lot, I will absorb everything I can from Ancelotti. I don’t know if today the national team can do something different from its entire history, have a foreign coach or not, but it depends on the president and I’m sure he will make the right decision”.

However, Neymar admitted that his favorite to lead Brazil was Fernando Diniz, the current interim coach, a position he combines with the post of Fluminense coach: “In my opinion, the ideal man for the national team today would be Fernando Diniz. He is a great coach and the national team would do very well with him.”

Regarding his return to Santos, the club where he trained, Neymar left a clear message for his followers: “Of course I want to play for Santos again. I know this is putting a lot of pressure on me right now, but I want to. I already said it when I left: I’m leaving, but I’ll be back. I want to play for Santos again, I don’t know when, but you can be sure that I will be back.”