NEYMAR’s fairytale return to Santos is closer to a nightmare than a dream as they remain fixed in a serious relegation battle.
With six matches to go in Brazil, the South American giants are two points off the pace, although they do have a game in hand.
This is after they were beaten for the second time in a week away from home.
Title-chasing Flamengo won 3-2 over Santos in a fixture that saw Neymar start for the first time in the league since mid-September.
The Brazilian icon has continued to struggle with injury since his brief stay in Saudi Arabia was cut short.
Neymar has been unable to reverse Santos’ fortunes, though, and now they are up against it to beat the drop.
Santos have only been relegated once before in their 113-year history but that came in 2023 after another horror show season.
They did win promotion straight back up to Serie A last term but have found themselves languishing once more.
It is over two decades since the club last won the top division and not even Neymar’s stardust has been able to inspire the team.
Now at 33, the former Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain attacker is fighting his body as much as anything else with 14 league matches missed through injury already this season.
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He was reduced to seven appearances across 18 months for Al-Hilal after leaving PSG in 2023, going on to re-join Santos earlier this year.
Six goals and three assists later in all competitions and it is a move that is yet to pay dividends.
Santos can climb above Vitoria by a point if they win their game in hand and would also bring Internacional back into the relegation picture with victory as well.
They face Palmeiras on Sunday in their next match and still have Internacional and Juventude to face, both of whom are in the equation to go down.
Santos also play Sport, who are all but relegated with just 17 points from 32 matches and have only won twice all season, conceding 55 times.
