"I haven't been pressured by anyone to call up Neymar. I have complete autonomy." Carlo Ancelotti said that to Reuters on Tuesday, two days before announcing Brazil's 2026 World Cup squad — and it's the clearest signal yet that sentiment won't be the deciding factor.
Neymar is 34, Brazil's all-time top scorer, and coming off years of injuries followed by an underwhelming return to Santos. His teammates have publicly campaigned for his inclusion. Half the country is still in love with him. None of that, Ancelotti insists, is the point.
"The decision will be 100% professional," he said. "I will only take into account how he is performing as a footballer. Nothing else."
The football case — and where it gets complicated
Ancelotti has built his Brazil around four forwards who can press, run channels, and track back. That's a demanding ask for a player who has struggled to complete full matches consistently, let alone back-to-back ones. The Italy-born coach, who has won league titles in all five major European leagues and lifted the Champions League five times as a manager, isn't running a nostalgia project.
But he acknowledged Neymar has shown recent improvement. "He has improved his fitness a lot in recent matches. He can maintain a high intensity in a match." Then came the qualifier: "But there are matches and matches."
That hedge matters. Playing well for Santos in the Brazilian Serie A is one thing. Handling the physical demands of a World Cup knockout stage is another conversation entirely.
The circus problem
Ancelotti isn't worried about the dressing room. He made that plain. His teammates like Neymar, they want him there, and the coach believes that atmosphere "will remain positive and clean right to the end" regardless of the call.
What he can't control is everything outside it. "I can't control the external atmosphere and what the media says." For a tournament hosted on home soil, that external noise will be deafening either way — if Neymar is left out, there'll be outrage; if he's in and struggles, there'll be questions about whether Ancelotti let romance cloud his judgment.
Brazil's World Cup odds rest heavily on how well this squad clicks as a unit over a short, intense tournament. A Neymar who is 80% fit and requires special handling around him is a different tactical proposition to one who can press from the front and last 90 minutes. The selection on Monday will tell us which version Ancelotti thinks he's got.
"Can I draw up a perfect squad? Impossible," he said. "But I can draw up a squad with fewer mistakes than others who might do so. Of that I am certain."
We'll find out Monday whether Neymar made the cut — or whether Ancelotti decided the risk outweighed the romance.
