In 2009, Neymar made his senior team debut for Santos FC and over the next four years he became a prolific goal scorer for his team as he helped them to win the Libertadores Cup. He scored a total of 54 goals in 103 appearances for the club and throughout his time at the club he was being courted by the biggest clubs in Europe. In fact, he had been accepted by the Real Madrid academy at the age of 14 but he stayed back with FC Santos after the club offered him a better salary.

In the 2013 season, Neymar started playing for Barcelona and in his first season at the club he impressed everyone as he got goals in many of the important games; including most notably in the El Clasico against Real Madrid. The following season Neymar scored 39 goals across all competitions for Barcelona and the club went on to win the League, Cup and Champions League treble.

In 2014 FIFA World Cup, Neymar was Brazil’s main star as the team went in to the tournament in search of their 6th World Cup title. Neymar scored 4 times in the tournament but he was injured in the quarter final against Columbia and could not play in the semi final against Germany. Brazil was eliminated in the semi final round in a humiliating manner.