RIO DE JANEIRO, April 11 (Xinhua) -- Neymar played the full 90 minutes as Santos edged to a 1-0 home win over Atletico Mineiro in Brazil's Serie A on Saturday.
Making only his fifth league start this year out of a possible 11, Neymar was industrious but clearly below his best as Santos clinched its third win of the campaign after a second-half strike from Moises.
Santos manager Cuca praised Neymar's performance and predicted the 34-year-old would continue to improve in the coming weeks as he bids for a place in Brazil's 2026 FIFA World Cup squad.
"Neymar is improving game by game, he has to keep working," Cuca said after the match. "His movement is much better and he is set to develop further."
Despite admitting that Neymar lacked match fitness, Cuca said the forward could start again in Santos' home Copa Sudamerica clash with Recoleta on Tuesday.
"It is risky for him to play the full 90 minutes, we will see if he can handle it, but we will work so that he can play on Tuesday," he said. "We are happy to see him enjoy the game as he did."
Neymar, Brazil's all-time leading scorer with 79 goals in 128 international matches, has not played for his country since suffering a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament in a World Cup qualifier against Uruguay in October 2023.
He has since suffered a series of injury setbacks, managing only 35 appearances for Santos across all competitions since returning to his boyhood club in January last year.
He has a maximum of 10 more games to prove his fitness for Santos before Brazil manager Carlo Ancelotti announces his World Cup squad.
The Italian has said he will only consider players who are fully fit and playing regularly for their clubs.
Brazil will begin its World Cup campaign against Morocco on June 13 before facing Haiti on June 19 and Scotland on June 24 in Group C. ■
