Neymar: I Will Play Until I Can No Longer Play As I Want

JAKARTA - Neymar said that he would continue to play football until he could no longer play as he wanted.

The 33-year-old recently signed a contract extension with Santos until the end of this year, with the option of extending it to the 2026 World Cup.

In an interview conducted by family members and friends, Neymar was asked by his wife, Bruna Biancardi, why he continues to play professionally in the midst of difficult conditions to return to the best performance due to a knee injury.

"What encourages me is the love I still feel for football. The desire I feel to play, to be on the pitch, that's what drives me every day, to wake up, to practice."

"The love I feel for football will never end. It will stay with me for the rest of my life."

"One day, the desire to play, because I can no longer do it, because I can no longer perform the way I want, will end."

"As long as I still have the desire to play football, my love must share," he said.

Neymar rejoined his boyhood club, Santos, earlier this year after ending his contract with Al Hilal.

He spent most of his time in the Saudi Arabian Pro League, on the sidelines of an ACL injury he suffered while serving internationally with Brazil in October 2023.

Repeated muscle injury has limited Neymar to scoring only three goals and three assists in 15 games for Santos this year and prevented him from returning to the long-awaited Brazil National Team.

Neymar often faces strict scrutiny over his lifestyle. The former Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain star finally opened up about criticism.

"I can't control the minds of others. It's hard to answer people who don't understand our lives at all."

"Menilai itu mudah, tetapi memahami apa yang ada di baliknya itu sulit. Saya menghabiskan seluruh karier saya dengan sedikit kesadian karena ini, karena orang-orang yang tidak mengenal saya berbicara tentang saya dan bukan hanya tentang sepak bola."

"I know I'm a good person, hard to confront. I want them to pay more attention to what is really important, namely on the pitch."

"Currently, with the internet and social media, it's difficult for people to just focus on the athletes themselves."

"It's really bad, sad, judged in a certain way, sometimes even hated by people who don't know me, who aren't part of my daily life, who don't know the effort I'm doing for myself and my family."

"It's hard to stop and see on the internet what's not true. I have a strong mindset in terms of the internet."

"I can see it, but it doesn't hurt me, it doesn't hurt me mentally."

"My football career is coming to an end, my name will remain in history, but it will end, years will pass, other players and generations will come and go."

"I've always said that people who know me are the most important thing," Neymar told his wife.