Zlatan Ibrahimovic Thierry Henry Lead Tributes After Neymars Retirement Sad Moment For Brazilian Football

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It was poetic that he played his final game for Brazil at the same venue where he marked his debut, in a friendly against the United States of America, on 9th August, 2010. Fourteen years later, he announced in tears: “I tried. I tried. It started here at MetLife Stadium, and I finished here. It is now over.”

Legendary Sweden striker and former PSG teammate Zlatan Ibrahimovic called his retirement as a “sad moment for Brazilian football.”

“An amazing talent, an amazing player and the skill set he had was just crazy. So, sad moment for Brazilian football.

“The Prince who never became King”, as he has widely been called, enjoyed the peak of his career at Barcelona, sharing the field with Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez as part of the iconic MSN attacking trio. After his shock transfer to Paris Saint-Germain, he never touched those heights again. Injury-plagued stints at Al-Hilal and at Santos again have seen the career of one of football’s most talented sons wind down in quiet disappointment. At the World Cup, he could only manage two substitute appearances as he recovered from a hamstring issue.

“He will be remembered as the great footballer that came over to Europe, and before he came over to Europe, he was doing his thing in Brazil. When he was at Barcelona, he did good. When he was at PSG, he did good,” reflected Ibrahimovic.

“But I think people will say also that he could've done more than he did because people wanted him to win the Ballon d'Or and he didn't win.

That age-old familiar prod. Neymar had long been hailed as the eventual successor to the throne shared by Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. He was, for his time at Barcelona, arguably the best player in the world after those two and shared the podium with them at the 2015 and 2017 Ballon d’Or ceremonies. But he has also always been held to the same standards of success and excellence by his critics and fans alike, especially after his shock transfer to PSG.

Yet that is secondary to the cultural and emotional impact he has had on the footballing world. The boy from Santos, with his distinct style and flair, had captured the imagination of every young football fan all over the world when he had reached the top 10 of the Ballon d’Or even before he had touched European shores.

French football icon Thierry Henry put it succinctly. “I don't want to talk about the World Cup or how he finished, I want to talk about what he has given to the game.”

“This is a guy I would pay to watch. Simple as that. This guy could play anywhere at any time, in any style. He would make anyone love the game with the way he was. His goals, his smile, they way he went about it, with the skills. Anyone young wanted to be Neymar. This guy changed the game with how he was playing it.”

"Neymar was and always will be an outstanding player. Thank you for what you've done, I've enjoyed it."

In the end, scoring a goal in his final moments in the famous canary yellow jersey, he gave his fans just what they had wanted. One final moment of magic to remember him by.