Football facts: Brazil fails without Neymar! These stats prove that

Neymar Jr., Brazil's highest goal scorer in international football last played for the National team back in October 2023 when they lost against Uruguay by 0-2 in the World Cup Qualification round. Post that, it has been 12 straight games where Neymar could not feature for his country due to injury. After another shocking 0-1 defeat against Paraguay in the FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifiers, the question of Brazil's inability to perform without Neymar has been raised again. That is why in our football facts segment, we have come up with stats to prove that Brazil do not perform well without Neymar Jr.

Neymar's debut

Neymar debuted for Brazil's National team on Aug 10, 2010, as an 18-year-old teenager while playing for Santos Football Club. He impressed each and everyone with a goal in the 72nd minute of the game against the USA to seal a 2-0 victory for Brazil in the international friendly match. It looked like he was there for at least three or four years with the National side.

Read Also | Most Iconic Rivalries in European Football Leagues: History & Stats 

Neymar's journey for Brazil over the years

Since his debut, Neymar went on to become one of the World's most valuable footballers and joined clubs like FC Barcelona where he won everything in club football and later joined PSG for a record transfer fee in 2018. Though for those two clubs, Neymar always had someone like Messi or Suraez or even Kylian Mbappe to share the load of the team, he never had that for Brazil.

In 2014 FIFA World Cup, even though he was playing his first World Cup, Neymar was the hope for the Brazilians to bring their sixth title to home. But even after socirng four goals in the tournament and finishing joint-third top scorer of the competition, he could not take Brazil to the finals, after he was brutually injured in the quarter-final match against Colombia, where he had scored a goal as well. Neymar's absence proved costly for Brazil as they were humiliated by Germany in the semis with a 1-7 defeat.

Read Also | Breaking Down the Most Iconic Football Facts and Moments of All Time 

From a young age of 22, he was made the captain of the most successful international football team in footbal history and Neymar felt the pressure of bringinng the glory to his motherland. However, he could not be there for the team in Copa America 2015 Quarter-finals due to card issues and then missed the 2016 Copa America due to injury.

However, Neymar was able to lead Brazil to their first-ever Olympic Gold medal in the 2016 Rio Olympics at home. Neymar with four goals was tournament's joint second goal scorer. 

In the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, Neymar was heading to World Cup as one of the highest goalscorers in Brazil's men's football history and was hoping to eliminate all the sorrows of 2014 and bring the glory to Brazil. Neymar scored 2 goals and assisted twice in the World Cup before Belgium elimiated them out of the tournament in the Quarter-finals.

Read Also | Statistical Overlook of Messi vs Ronaldo Debate: Who Is the G.O.A.T? 

Neymar was not named in the 2019 Copa America squad after he suffered an ankle ligament tear in the international friendly prior to the tournament.

The Copa America 2021 saw a fit Neymar on the pitch for Brazil but despite contributing five times (2 goals and 3 assists) in the tournament, they were beaten by Messi's Argentina in the penalty shootout in the final.

📊Neymar in Copa America 2021🇧🇷🏆

👕 6 Games
⚽️ 2 Goals
🅰️ 3 Assists🥈
🎯 5 G/A in 6 Games 🥈
🔑 22 Chance Create🥇
💥 9 Big Chances Create🥇
🏃‍♂️ 35 Successful Dribble🥇
👉🏻 74 Duels Won🥇
🤕 30 Fouls Won🥇
💯 Average Score 8.25🥈

🎖️ CA POTT
🎖️ CA TOTT

https://t.co/uOKn67skZd

— NEYMAR OPTA STATS 📊 (@neymaropta) May 29, 2024

Neymar's luck was not there with him again in the FIFA World Cup 2022, when he suffered an ankle injury in the first game against Serbia and missed the next two games. Though he came back to score once and assist once in the round of 16 game against South Korea, his goal against Croatia in the quarter-final could not come any handy as they were beaten in the Quarter-finals in the penalty shootout.

Post 2022 World Cup, Neymar played only four games for Brazil before he got injured with a cruciate ligament tear.

Neymar's international stats

In his 128 games so far, the Brazilian has scored a record 79 times for his country, which is a record for any Brazilian Men's football player. Along with that, he also assisted 59 times for his Brazilian teammates. 

Brazil's Stats Since Neymar Debuted

Now, since we have Neymar's journey and stats for Brazil, to discuss how Brazil have been depended on Neymar, we need Brazil's overall stat since he debuted and Brazil's stats when Neymar did not play.

So, till now, since Neymar's debut on August 10, 2010, Brazil have played 173 compettive matches including international friendlies, Copa America, World Cup qualifieres and World Cup matches. In those, 173 games Brazil won 114 times, lost 29 times and drawn 30 times. Remember this stat includes all the matches when Neymar played and also the matches he did not play.

Brazil's stats when Neymar plays

In the 128 games Neymar played for Brazil (123 starts, 5 subs), he won 93 games. Meantime, Brazil only lost 14 times during this time and drawn only 21 times. So, Brazil have a 72.65% winning rate whenever Neymar featured for them in last 14 years.

Brazil's stats when Neymar did not play

Brazil have always struggled to get going without their "Prince". Although they have players like Rodrygo, Vinicius Jr,, Richarlison, Raphinha and others, none could produce the results, Neymar prodcuded for the Selecao.

Since his debut, Neymar missed 45 games due to mostly injuries he suffered. In those 45 games, Brazil only won 21 games while lost 15 times and drawn 9 times. This means without Neymar, Brazil's win percentage drops to 46.66% which is nearly 25.99% less than when Neymar plays for them.

Brazil's stats whenever Neymar scored

Neymar's match winning skills is known to everyone. In his 128 games, Neymar scored in a stunning 60 games while scoring a record 79 goals for the senior team. In those 60 games, Brazil only lost 2 times and drawn thrice. That means Brazil won 55 out of 66 games whenever Neymar scored for them which sets a winning rate of 91.66%.

Only time Brazil found success without Neymar

The only time Brazil found sucess without Neymar, is when Brazil won the 2019 Copa America, their first trophy since 2013. They won their ninth Copa America title by beating Peru 3-1 in the final. Everton scored thrice for them, the most in the tournament while Jesus, Coutinho and Firmino scored twice throuhout the tournament. Dani Alves was the player of the tournament.

Conclusion

Though, Brazil won the 2019 Copa America title without having Neymar in their squad, it is quite proven that the Selecao have srtuglled to win without their best goalscorer on the field. Their win rate dropped nealry 26% when they Neymar did not featured for since his debut and this proves how important he has been for the national team and their history. With Neymar still having a few years left in him, do you feel Neymar would be able to bring the World Cup to Barzil again?