Jeering International Limeira fans provoked Neymar to score the first “olimpico” of his career, the Brazil international said on Sunday after guiding Santos to a 3-0 win in the Paulista Championship.

Neymar netted directly from a corner in the 27th minute, bending in a right-footed shot which struck the far post and ended up in the goal.

The 33-year-old also provided two assists for Tiquinho Soares score a first-half double.

“They teased me and I said, now I’m the one who’s going to score the goal,” Neymar told TNT Sports.

The home fans also taunted Neymar in the ninth minute when he walked up to take a corner, and the former Barcelona and Paris St Germain forward responded by signalling for them to sing louder before setting up Soares to score.

“My greatest joy is playing football,” Neymar posted on social media.

Neymar, who left Saudi Pro League side Al-Hilal last month to return to his boyhood club, said last week that Santos were helping him “to rediscover soccer, rediscover joy”.

Santos play Bragantino in the Paulista Championship quarter-finals next weekend.

-Reuters

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Former Nigeria’s manager, Jose Peseiro in his debut with Zamalek of Egypt had his club forcing a 1-1 draw with Petrojet in his debut. The draw left Zamalek with 27 points in third place of the Egyptian league, trailing leaders, Pyramids by three points and arch-rivals, Al Ahly by two points.

The former Nigeria coach missed several key players, and he had to reshuffle his team.

He made four changes from the previous game including Mohamed Atef who made his second appearance of the season.

He again drew against Al Ahly in this weekend’s Cairo derby with Al Ahly.

Peseiro believes his team’s 1-1 draw against Ahly in the Cairo derby was a fair result, but stressed the players need time to adapt to his new tactics.

Substitute Achraf Bencharki gave Ahly the lead in the 72nd minute, but Mahmoud Bentayg equalized for Zamalek six minutes from time.

“I think Ahly were better in the first half but without clear scoring chances, apart from the shot that hit the crossbar,” Peseiro told the post-match press conference.

“The draw is a fair result between the two sides,” he added.

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Not even the possibility of a first win of the campaign could tempt relegated Brazilian clubs Colo Colo and Jacobina to play their final Bahia Championship fixture this week.

With nothing to gain from the dead rubber match, Jacobina felt the 1,200km roundtrip from their coastal city home of Ilheus into the interior of northeastern state was not worth it.

Colo Colo could have avoided the ignominy of bottom place in the league by winning the match but agreed, and the Bahia Football Federation (FBF) acquiesced by cancelling Saturday’s fixture.

“As both teams have already been relegated to Serie B in 2026, and the cancellation of the match does not cause any harm to the other participants in the competition, the FBF accepted the requests,” the federation said in a statement.

Both teams had three points apiece from three draws but Colo Colo will now finish the season bottom of the league courtesy of a goal difference of minus 15 compared to Jacobina’s minus 12.

The Bahia Championship, also known as the Baianao, is the second-oldest state championship in Brazil and has been played continuously since 1905.

-Reuters

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