Neymar did not take too kindly to being questioned by a former Liverpool favourite after launching an X-rated response on social media.
The Brazilian has been one of world football’s most potent forwards throughout his entire career. His goals tally at club level stands at 273 strikes in 460 matches between time at Santos, Barcelona and PSG.
Furthermore, he surpassed legendary Brazilian Ronaldo on the all-time top scorers chart for his country. His mark of 71 is just six short of Pele who tops the list.
However, there has always been a sense of unfulfilled potential regarding the forward given persistent questions about his application and off-field behaviour.
That led to criticism from former Liverpool left-back and fellow Brazilian, Fabio Aurelio.
Aurelio excelled when on the pitch at Anfield between 2006-12, but often saw his time on Merseyside besieged by injury.
When speaking to Goal, Aurelio pointed to the lack of a Ballon d’Or or World Cup in Neymar’s locker when assessing the forward’s underachievement.
Neymar lifestyle coming back to bite
“I always say that I would be very disappointed if I was him,” Aurelio said of Neymar.
“The ambitions he has, and for the quality and talent he has, the fact that he has never won a Ballon d’Or feels wrong. He has all the conditions to do it, but I don’t know what has happened. Maybe some things are more important to him than the game, I don’t know?
“You see [Cristiano] Ronaldo, [Lionel] Messi, they were there at the top level for 10 or 15 years, and you never heard about problems away from the pitch, but Neymar is always involved in things like this.
“He needs to stay away from those things, because he is capable of amazing things. Maybe now, the age he is, if you don’t look after yourself, it can come back and haunt you.
“He is still Neymar, and capable of doing things that you don’t expect, but you see now he is not as fit as he used to be.”
Unsurprisingly, those comments have gone…