Santos defeats Sport with Neymar’s sacrifice assist and leaves Z4 from the Brazilian League

It is clear that Neymar made sacrifices due to problems with his left knee, and led Santos to an important victory over Sport 3-0, on Friday, at Vila Belmiro Stadium, in a confrontation held within the 36th round of the Brazilian Championship. With this result, Santos reached 41 points, two points ahead of Vitoria, and moved out of the relegation zone to occupy fifteenth place.

Santos’ win also relegated Juventude, who had shortly before drawn 1-1 with Bahia at Caxias do Sul. The Rio Grande do Sul club and bottom club Sport, which has just 17 points in the Brazilian league, will compete in the second division in 2026.

As expected, Santos controlled the match and put significant pressure on Sport by playing on the flanks. Neymar is positioned in the left midfield, and always tries to touch the ball quickly and send it to his teammates. The Pernambuco side, who had already been relegated, were not intimidated and armed themselves to counter-attack.

Despite spending most of the time on the attacking field, Santos did not scare goalkeeper Gabriel until the 15th minute with a cross shot from Neymar that bounced off the defence. Then Souza shot a ball from the edge of the penalty area, and the Sport goalkeeper made a wonderful save.

As time passed, Sport gained confidence and began exchanging passes in the attacking area. Lucas Lima made a mistake and contributed to a counterattack for Santos. Guilherme carried the ball between the midfielders and passed it to Neymar, who scored inside the area: 1-0, in the 25th minute.

The goal gave Santos peace of mind who did not take long to extend their lead. He got help from his opponent. After Aarão’s header hit the post, Thierry shot over Lucas Cale: own goal, 2-0 for Santos.

The last minutes were played at a training pace. Santos knew that victory was practically guaranteed, while Sport had nothing to lose.

As a result, attacking movements appeared frequently and a new goal could be scored in either direction. Santos just didn’t have a more “resilient” result due to Gabriel’s good defending.

The second half began with the same panorama. Without teams paying much attention to marking, spaces appeared to create play. There Neymar shines with valuable passes, even without much movement. But they are not used by their teammates.

At 22, there was no way. Neymar took a corner kick from the left side and Joao Schmidt converted it with a header. At the age of 25, Santos were awarded a penalty, and Neymar even positioned himself to take the penalty, but the shot ended up being ruled offside at the start of the match.

A festive atmosphere took over Villa Belmiro, which was packed with players, celebrating every move and every dribble. Neymar fought until the end, saving again from Gabriel from a free kick and almost scoring a wonderful goal with his last effort in the 42nd minute. He was replaced by Gabriel Bontempo, 44, and left the field to the applause of the fans. It was a happy night for Santos fans.

Santos 3 x 0 Sport

• Santos – Coat of arms; Igor Vinicius, Adonis Frias, Ze Evaldo e Souza; Joao Schmidt, Willian Aarau (Z Rafael) and Neymar; Barreal (Robinho Junior), Tequinho Soares (Lautaro Diaz), Guilherme (Rolheiser). Coach: Juan Pablo Voevoda.
• sports -Gabriel; Matthews Alexander (Aderlan), Thayer, Ramon and Luann Candido; Lucas Cale (Adriel), Rivera and Lucas Lima; Mateusinho (Igor Karius), Leo Pereira and Pablo (Hiuran/Romarinho). Coach: Cesar Lucena.
• Objectives – Neymar at 25 and Lucas Cale (against) at 35 minutes of the first half. Joao Schmidt in the 22nd minute.
• Yellow cards – Adriel, Adrielan.
• arbitrator – Felipe Fernandez de Lima (MG).
• income – 774,742.50 Brazilian reals.
• general – 14,156 fans.
• location – Villa Belmiro Stadium, Santos (SP).