Neymar Jr.

  Neymar Jr

By Eric Lemieux

  Neymar Da Silva Santos Jr known as, Neymar Jr was born in Mogi Da Cruzes, São Paulo, Brazil.  He had a rough childhood.  When he was just a little boy his father suffered from an injury.   He also almost died in a car crash when he was a baby .  Even though his childhood might have seemed bad it got better along the way.

  Neymar played soccer for a local indoor team named São Vicente.  Neymar started on a U9 soccer team.   After a month or two he was already on the U12 team.  He was very important to his team.  Without him his team would have been horrible.

  One day while watching one of his dad's games a scout was watching him .  He saw Neymar Jr weaving around spectators and using magical skills.  The scout went up to his mother and said how good he was.  At first his mom thought he was talking about the dad.  The scout asked if he would like to play for a team called Santos.  Santos is a local soccer team.  Neymar and his family happily accepted and Neymar was on his way.   He joined Santos at age 11.

  Neymar’s career at  Santos started in 2009 .   He was a star for the youth team and made many friends.    Once he even agreed to do a crazy mohawk haircut with his friend.  In 2009 he scored thirteen goals with Santos.  In 2010 he scored a total of thirty -one goals!   For Neymar’s last two years he scored a total of thirty-six goals and then announced his move to F.C. Barcelona.  Neymar even won the 2011 goal of the year award.  At the awards Pele, a great Brazilian soccer player, told him to move to  play in Europe.

  When Neymar arrived in  Barcelona he was greeted by a swarm of fans and photographers.  Everybody was hoping for a picture of Neymar in front of the club crest.  Neymar was on his way to Camp Nou, the Barcelona stadium.  There were fifty-four thousand fans were watching Neymar step on the field for the first time.  Eighty- six point three million Euros all seemed worth while.

In Neymar's first season at Barcelona Neymar had seventeen goals .  He had many assists and created a strong bond with Lionel Messi .  Neymar was already best friends with Dani Alves.  He played with Dani in the confederations cup winning squad.  Dani was also helping Neymar's family get settled in.  Neymar was getting used to living in this amazing city.

Finally it was time for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.  He was excited to be in the starting squad.   He would be playing for his home country for one of the first times.  In Brazil's first group game they beat Croatia 3-1.  Neymar almost had a hat trick scoring two goals. In their second group game they tied Mexico 0-0.  In their last group game they defeated Cameroon 4-1. Neymar scored two of the goals and got man of the match.

Finally ,it was time for the elimination stage of the World Cup.  Brazil was scheduled to play Chile. The game was going well until they tied the game at one. It went to a penalty shootout.  Brazil just pulled away from Chile and advanced to the next round.  In the next round they were getting ready to play Columbia.  In the first seven minutes Thiago Silva scored for Brazil.  After that David Luiz scored a wonderful free kick from thirty- five yards out.  After that disaster struck Brazil.  Neymar was tackled and taken off the field in tears.  Finally ,James Rodriguez scored in the eightieth minute.  Brazil won the game and advanced to the semi-finals.  Meanwhile, doctors figured out that Neymar broke his back.  It was July eighth and it was time for Brazil to face Germany.  During the Brazil national anthem they held up a jersey of Neymar's .  It was time for the game to start.  But they did not know that disaster would strike.  After the first half it was already four to zero.  By the end of the game it was seven to one.  The Brazil team was devastated.  But in a few days they would still end up playing for third place.  They were playing Netherlands.  Surprisingly, they lost three to zero.

 In the 2015 season he scored forty -five goals including international goals. He was playing amazingly.  But, soon rumors went around saying Neymar was moving to Manchester United.  Manchester United is a team in the Premier League.  Neymar was outraged.  He said he would never even think about going to Manchester.  Neymar still had an amazing season leading their team to win the Champions League.

 Now it was time for the 2016 regular season.  Barcelona came in as the favorite to win the league.  They were also the favorite to win the Champions League.  The Champions League is a league where the best teams in Europe compete for the title.  Barcelona got to the quarter finals.  It was horrible .They lost and got eliminated from the competition.  Everybody was surprised because they lost to the underdog. Now Atletico Madrid is competing in the finals of the Champions League.  In the tournament Neymar scored three goals and had five assists during their season

 Now Barcelona is competing for the Spanish League title. They have to win their last game and they need their rivals, Real Madrid to lose.  Real Madrid is the favorite to win but Barcelona can still win.

             Completed May,13 2016