The last time Neymar played a competitive match that mattered, he hobbled off the pitch in Doha with a torn ACL, Brazil's World Cup hopes trailing behind him like a half-inflated party balloon. That was November 2022. The next time he might pull on the yellow shirt? March 2025, against Colombia and Argentina. In between: 14 months of rehab, three club appearances for Al-Hilal, and a Saudi Pro League cameo that lasted all of 30 minutes before his hamstring said enough.
And yet here he is. Recalled. Anointed by Cafu as someone who "can be important for any team." A leap of faith from Carlo Ancelotti, who has presumably been watching the same grainy YouTube compilations as the rest of us.
Let's be clear: the Neymar who returns is not the Neymar who left. The Neymar who left was already a diminished force — brilliant in flashes, absent in the gaps. The version returning has played 42 minutes of senior football since October 2023. Forty-two. That's less game time than a League One substitute accumulates in a bad month.
So what exactly is Ancelotti banking on?
The ghost of Neymar past
There's a case, and it's not entirely insane. Brazil's attack in the post-Neymar era has resembled a jazz band without a lead trumpet — plenty of noise, no melody. Vinícius Jr. dances past three defenders and then looks up, confused, as if expecting someone to tell him what to do next. Rodrygo drifts. Raphinha works hard but lacks the voodoo. Brazil have scored more than two goals in a game exactly twice in their last 14 matches. That is not a typo.
Neymar, even at 60 per cent fitness, offers something nobody else in that squad does: the ability to make a defence freeze. He attracts two, sometimes three markers, which creates the space that Vinícius and Rodrygo need to operate. It's the same principle that made peak Messi so devastating — not just the goals, but the gravitational pull that rearranges the opposition's shape.
The question is whether a 33-year-old who has spent the last 18 months in the Saudi spa league can still exert that gravity. The Al-Hilal version of Neymar was a hologram — present in name, absent in effect. He scored one goal in seven appearances before the ACL tear. One. In the Saudi Pro League. Where Cristiano Ronaldo scores hat-tricks against air.
The Ancelotti calculus
Ancelotti has never been a manager who builds around fragile genius unless absolutely necessary. His Madrid sides are machines of controlled chaos, not one-man bands. So why now? Because Brazil's upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Colombia and Argentina are less about qualification — they're fifth, which in CONMEBOL is practically a bye — and more about sending a message.
The message: We have Neymar. You don't.
It's psychological warfare. Argentina have just won the World Cup. Colombia are ascendant. Brazil have been wandering in the wilderness, directionless, since Tite left. Ancelotti needs a totem, a name that makes the opposition's pre-match briefing slightly more anxious. Neymar's name still does that. His hamstring, less so.
There's also the uncomfortable truth that Brazil's alternatives are not inspiring. Gabriel Jesus has become a defensive forward who forgets to score. Richarlison is a meme with a ponytail. Endrick is 17 and has played 47 minutes for Real Madrid. The cupboard is not bare, but it's creaking.
The risk
If Neymar breaks down again — and the odds are not in his favour — this recall looks reckless. Ancelotti will be accused of nostalgia, of chasing a dream that died on that Doha pitch. Cafu's endorsement will feel like an epitaph. Brazil will have wasted two matches trying to integrate a player who can't stay on the field.
If it works? If Neymar produces 70 minutes of vintage magic, sets up a goal against Argentina, reminds everyone why he is Brazil's all-time leading scorer? Then Ancelotti looks like a genius. The narrative flips. The ghost becomes flesh again.
Football loves a redemption arc. It also loves a cautionary tale. This one could go either way, and the margin between the two is roughly the tensile strength of a 33-year-old hamstring.