BIOGRAPHY

Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior, popularly known in the world as Neymar Jr., is a Brazilian footballer who was born in Mogi das Cruzes, state of São Paulo on February 5, 1992 and plays as an end or second striker. He is the son of Nadine his mother and Neymar Santos who is his father, from whom he inherited his name and passion for football since in the past he was also a footballer. From a very young age Neymar showed his love for futsal and street football and it was in these sports that he began to show all his football talent.

Neymar began to venture into the world of football, playing futsal motivated by Betinho and then go through clubs like Gremental and Portuguese Santista, small football clubs in the city of saints. In 2003, when he was only 11 years old, Santos was signed by one of the most famous and important teams in his country where famous players such as Bruno Coutinho, Pelé, Martins, Clodoaldo Tavares de Santana, Diego Walsh, Elano and Alex had formed .

In 2005, Real Madrid was interested in his talent and traveled to perform the relevant tests to play in the club which passed satisfactorily, however, the transfer would not occur since Santos paid more than one million reais to keep it in their ranks The player had a rapid advance in the lower categories, demonstrating in each of them his ability and speed in dribbling with the ball which allowed him to be promoted to the first team of the saints in 2009.

On March 7, 2009 Neymar debuted as a professional at Santos at the age of 17, in a game against the West in which he played the last 30 minutes of the game. His first goal in the team would be a week after his debut against Mogi Mirim and on April 11 of that year he would score a decisive goal in the first leg of the first leg against Palmeiras, which his team won 2-1 . The final of that season unfortunately he would lose it 4-2 against Corinthians, being the end of his first season in which he managed to score 14 goals in 48 games.

In 2010 he was crowned champion of the São Paulo championship, in which he scored 14 goals in 19 games and was chosen as the best player of the season by scoring 42 goals in 70 games. All these recognitions made Neymar begin to be compared with players like Robinho who was his idols and the Brazilian Pelé icon soccer king.

He achieved his first hundred goals on February 5, 2012 in a match against Palmeiras corresponding to the São Paulo championship, this date would be very important for the player since he achieved that number of goals on his 20th birthday. On October 18 that same year the player achieved another important fact in his career, since he played his 200th game with the Santos shirt against Atlético Mineiro, the match ended 2-2 and Neymar scored a goal, in addition, he received a commemorative plaque from the club. At the end of the 2012 season he also won the gold booty and the Globolinha de Ouro prize for the best goal of the Brazilian championship.

In 2013, Neymar again expressed his desire to play in a European club with a career like Chelsea, Barcelona or Real Madrid, so that year he did not renew a contract with Santos. On May 26, the signing of the Brazilian crack to Barcelona FC was made official for 5 seasons and worth approximately 57 million euros.

}His debut in Barcelona was in the match of the first day of the 2013-2014 season against Levante, in which he entered the 63rd minute and his team won by a score of 7-0. His first goal with the Blaugrana shirt was scored on September 21, 2013 in the match by the Spanish Super Cup against Atlético de Madrid. Later his first classic would come before Real Madrid on October 26 of that same year, in which he managed to contribute a goal to the 2-1 victory of his team.

For the 2014-2015 season, Neymar amounted to 30 goals in the same course, scoring teams like Elche, Bilbao, Granada and Real Madrid per league; Atlético de Madrid and Villareal by the Copa del Rey; and Paris Saint-Germain for the UEFA Champions League. In May 2015, Barcelona played the semifinals of the Champions League against Bayern Munich, in which Neymar scored 1 a goal in the first leg in Barcelona which won 3-0; the second leg in Munich would be defeat for Barcelona 3-2 in which the Brazilian player would score both goals for his team with which he contributed to a global score of 5-3 in favor of his team and that gave them the step at the end of the European competition. On May 17, Neymar and Barcelona secured the league title with a 1-0 victory against Atlético de Madrid, which was another title in the soccer player's career. On May 30 he won the final of the King's Cup against Athletic Bilbao with a score of 3-1 and in which he contributed a goal.

In the dispute of the Champions League final against Juventus of Italy on June 6, 2015, Neymar scored the third goal of his team, in what was the victory of Barcelona 3-1 and what could be done at title of the most important competition at the level of European clubs; This was the first player title at the level of all European clubs, in addition, he became the eighth player in history to win and score in the finals of the Copa Libertadores and Champions League.

In December 2015, Neymar participated with his club Barcelona FC in the club world championship, where he started his road sown in the semifinal round facing the Guangzhou Evergrande of China which won 3-0 with a triplet from the Uruguayan Luis Suarez, which would give the semifinals step to the Blaugrana team. The final of this competition would be played against the historic River Plate of Argentina which won 3-0 with two goals by Luis Suarez and one by Leonel Messi, Neymar was the 90-minute starter in both matches of the club world championship and although he did not score He became one of the historical players after winning the three most important competitions in the world at the club level, the Copa Libertadores, the UEFA Champions League and the FIFA Club World Cup.

On August 3, 2017, after much speculation, Neymar's transfer to Paris Saint-Germain Football Club was formalized, for a figure that reached 222 million euros. On August 5 of that same year, the Brazilian player was presented at the Parque de los Príncipes stadium, where he was cheered by thousands of fans. On October 23, 2017, Neymar was part of FIFA / FIFPro World XI chosen by FIFA, which refers to the ideal eleven of the season.

Neymar played the qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, where he managed to score 6 goals and be one of the most prominent players in his team. The player was part of the payroll that ratified his 2018 World Cup qualification with the Brazilian national team. On January 1, 2018 he won the «Golden Samba 2017» award, for having been the best Brazilian player acting in Europe.