World’s first work-from-home player, President Lula takes a dig at Neymar

While speculation is growing that Neymar could finally take the field against Scotland in Brazil's final group-stage match on Thursday (25 June), Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has grabbed headlines with a humorous remark about the injury-hit star's FIFA World Cup campaign. The football-loving president joked that Neymar is the world's first "work-from-home" national team player.

The comment came during an event in Belo Horizonte, the capital of Brazil's Minas Gerais state. Interacting with the audience, Lula asked a young boy who he thought was the best player in the Brazil team. When the boy replied "Neymar", the president smiled and said: "Neymar isn't even playing, man. Neymar is the world's first 'work-from-home' national team player — a work-from-home player."

The Brazilian leader then admitted that he had seen the joke on social media before adding another tongue-in-cheek remark. "I saw that on the internet yesterday. Any day now, they'll have to put together a national team using artificial intelligence — eleven Pelés," Lula said, invoking the legendary footballer who came to symbolize Brazil's celebrated jogo bonito ("the beautiful game") tradition.

The 34-year-old forward, Brazil's all-time leading goalscorer, has yet to feature at the ongoing World Cup after suffering a calf injury ahead of the tournament. Neymar had publicly backed former right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro, Lula's political rival, in previous elections, adding an extra layer of intrigue to the president's comments.

Neymar was unavailable for Brazil's opening 1-1 draw with Morocco and also missed the team's 3-0 victory over Haiti. Rather than travelling with the squad to Philadelphia for the Haiti match, he remained at Brazil's training base in New Jersey to continue his recovery programme. The forward has reportedly been training twice a day in a bid to accelerate his return.

Brazil coach Carlo Ancelotti said after the victory over Haiti that Neymar would rejoin the squad ahead of their match against Scotland. However, the coach stopped short of guaranteeing the forward's availability, saying a final decision is expected after the next two days of training sessions.