Neymar extended his hand. Thiago Mendes did not even look at him.
It was on Sunday, August 16, at Estadio São Januário in Río de Janeiro, during the pre-match protocol for Vasco da Gama vs Santos in matchday 23 of the Brasileirão. Vasco’s captain repeated the snub during the pennant exchange, and there was not even a joint photo with the refereeing crew. Everything was recorded, and the video blew up on social media.
Thiago Mendes, Vasco captain, DID NOT GREET NEYMAR before the match vs Santos.
Ney’s face… 👀🇧🇷 pic.twitter.com/xi9cQXWRAl
— Ataque Futbolero (@AtaqueFutbolero) August 16, 2026
The wound goes back a long way: in December 2020, playing for Lyon against PSG, Mendes committed a foul that shattered Neymar’s ankle and was sent off. He publicly apologized and served a three-match suspension, but the resentment never went away. In February of this year, in another Santos-Vasco clash, Neymar accused him of threatening to injure him again and called him an ‘idiot.’ This time, the pitch spoke for Mendes: Santos thrashed them 3-0 with goals from Gabriel Barbosa, Willian Arão and Luan Peres.
