Lionel Messi Insists Neymar Must Be at the World Cup

Lionel Messi doesn’t see a World Cup without Neymar. Simple as that.

Speaking on Pollo Álvarez’s show Lo del Pollo, the Argentina and Inter Miami CF star was clear: if the best are going to be in the tournament, Neymar has to be there with Brazil.

"We want the best players to be there [at the World Cup] and Neymar, no matter his form, will always be one of them," Messi said, stripping the debate down to its essence.

For Messi, this goes beyond form, fitness or selection politics. It’s about what Neymar represents.

"It would be wonderful to see him at the World Cup because of what he means to Brazil and to football. I hope he can be there, but I can't be objective, because he always has to be there.

"I can't be objective. Neymar is a friend ... Obviously, I'd love for him to be at the World Cup, for good things to happen to him because he deserves it for the kind of person he is. And I hope he can be there."

Those words carry the weight of history. Messi, now 38, and Neymar, 34, forged their bond in one of the most dazzling attacking trios the game has seen at Barça, then reunited for two more seasons at Paris Saint-Germain. They both walked away from PSG in 2023, Messi heading to MLS with Inter Miami, Neymar taking a different route to Al Hilal in the Saudi Pro League, but the connection never really loosened.

Ask Messi what sets Neymar apart and he doesn’t reach for tactics or statistics.

"He has a very special charisma," Messi said. "He doesn't put on an act, he lives his life as it is, according to what he feels without worrying about the repercussions. He lives his life, he's happy, and he's very natural."

That free-spirited personality has always mirrored Neymar’s football: instinctive, daring, unapologetically expressive. The problem now is the body trying to keep up with the spirit.

Neymar returned to Santos a little more than a year ago, aiming to rebuild his rhythm and push his way back into Brazil’s plans for what would be his fourth World Cup. On paper, a player of his pedigree — Brazil’s all-time top scorer with 79 goals — should be untouchable. On the pitch, injuries and long layoffs have told a harsher story.

He has not played for Brazil since October 2023. Since Carlo Ancelotti took charge in June, Neymar has been absent from every squad the Italian has named. Not overlooked once. All of them.

The setbacks have piled up. Minor surgery on his left knee on Dec. 22. Another knee procedure in late March. Each operation another step away from the version of Neymar that once tore through defenses and carried Brazil on his shoulders.

Yet even from the national team bench, there is a belief he can still climb back.

"He is capable of getting back to 100%," Ancelotti told L'Equipe last month, a short sentence that keeps the door open and the conversation alive.

So the picture is this: a 34-year-old forward fighting his body, a new Brazil taking shape under Ancelotti, and a World Cup looming on the horizon. In the middle of it all, Lionel Messi, the game’s ultimate rival-turned-ally, insisting that for football to feel complete on that stage, Neymar has to walk out in yellow again.

Whether the clock, the knee and the manager all agree with him is another matter entirely.