Lionel Messi Advocates for Neymar's World Cup Inclusion

Lionel Messi doesn’t hesitate. For him, a World Cup without Neymar is simply incomplete.

Speaking on Lo del Pollo with Pollo Álvarez, the Argentina and Inter Miami CF star was clear: form, fitness, context — none of it changes what he thinks Brazil must do.

"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 core. For Messi, the tournament’s showcase demands its purest entertainers.

He didn’t try to disguise his bias.

"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."

This is not a distant, polite admiration. It’s rooted in a decade of shared dressing rooms and shared pressure. Messi, now 38, and Neymar, 34, forged their bond in four seasons together at Barça, then reunited for two more at Paris Saint-Germain. They left PSG in the same summer of 2023, their paths diverging but their relationship intact: Messi to MLS with Inter Miami, Neymar to Saudi Arabia with Al Hilal.

For Messi, the argument isn’t only about talent. It’s about presence.

"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 charisma once lit up World Cups and Clásicos. Now it battles against time and a battered body.

Neymar returned to Santos a little more than a year ago, trying to rebuild both rhythm and confidence. The target is clear: a place with Brazil at what would be his fourth World Cup. The road has been anything but smooth.

He has not played for Brazil since October 2023. Injuries and inconsistent form have shut the national-team door for now, and that door has stayed closed under Carlo Ancelotti. Brazil’s all-time top scorer, with 79 goals, has been left out of every squad since the Italian took charge in June.

Still, even from the man who has been omitting him, there is no sense of finality. "He is capable of getting back to 100%," Ancelotti told L’Équipe last month, a line that keeps the possibility alive if Neymar’s body allows it.

The body remains the great question. Neymar underwent minor surgery on his left knee on Dec. 22, then needed another procedure on the same knee in late March. Each operation pushes the comeback further down the road, each rehab cycle a race against the World Cup clock.

Messi, though, isn’t talking like a selector or a doctor. He’s talking like a teammate who has seen Neymar at full power and doesn’t want that version to disappear from the game’s biggest stage.

For Brazil, and for world football, the decision now hangs between medical reports, tactical plans and the memory of a player who once bent tournaments to his will.