Neymar hurt again, and he's not happy about it

Neymar picked up a right thigh injury during Santos' Brazilian Cup fixture against Palmeiras on Wednesday, according to ESPN FC. The specific severity and expected recovery time haven't been confirmed, which leaves Santos, and anyone picking Brazil squads down the line, in a familiar holding pattern.

The match was played at Vila Belmiro, Santos' own home ground, and it's there that Neymar directed his frustration once the game was over. ESPN FC reports he criticised the state of the pitch, the kind of comment that lands differently coming from a player talking about the stadium his own club calls home.

A body that keeps testing patience

Neymar's injury history since his return to Santos has been one long stop-start story, and every fresh knock reopens the same conversation about whether he can still be relied upon over a full season. A thigh problem picked up in a domestic cup tie isn't the kind of thing that ends a career, but at this stage of things it's the kind of thing that ends a run of matches, and those runs matter for a club trying to build any kind of consistency around its biggest name.

The pitch at Vila Belmiro

Hearing a player of Neymar's stature single out the playing surface at his own club's stadium after limping off is the kind of complaint that's hard for Santos to wave away. Whether it changes anything about how the pitch is maintained is another question entirely.

For now the club will wait on scan results and a clearer diagnosis before saying anything definitive about how long Neymar is out for. Until that comes through, this is a story about uncertainty on two fronts: a body under strain, and a pitch getting blamed for it.