Neymar’s mother has urged her Brazilian soccer star son to “forgive” the woman who accused him of rape and “return to Jesus,” in a message published on Tuesday on Instagram.
Nadine Goncalves’ plea, which featured a photograph of herself with Neymar and his sister, Rafaela, came after lawyers for the accuser reportedly stopped representing her because of contradictions in her story.
Neymar has vehemently denied the allegations and his father has claimed that the Paris Saint-Germain player was the victim of a blackmail attempt.
“My son ... now that the truth of God is coming out, it is time to learn from all this and return to Jesus Christ, your first love,” Goncalves wrote to Neymar, the world’s most expensive soccer player.
“Focus on what you love most in life, playing football,” she said, as Neymar prepares with his teammates for this month’s Copa America tournament in Brazil. “We are Christians, forgive that girl. Me and your sister, as women, can guarantee that she does not represent us.”
Neymar on Saturday posted a seven-minute video on Instagram denying that he had raped the woman after she accused him of sexually assaulting her at a Paris hotel last month.
In the video, he showed what he said was a series of WhatsApp messages with the woman, including topless photographs of her in bed.
Rio police on Sunday said that they had launched an investigation into the publication of intimate information on social media concerning the woman.
In the latest twist in the high-profile case, the Sao Paulo-based firm representing the woman said that it had dropped her as its client after she changed her story, Globo TV reported on Monday.
The lawyers said that the woman initially told them she had had consensual sex with Neymar and that he then became violent and assaulted her.
However, the firm, Fernandes e Abreu, said that in the official complaint the woman gave to Brazilian police, she “described what had happened as ‘rape,’ which is a completely different allegation.”
The scandal caps a troubled season for Neymar, on and off the field. It has been marred by a recurring injury, two separate suspensions for insulting a referee and hitting a fan, and the loss of Brazil’s captaincy in the Copa America.
ANFIELD BLUES: Kylian Mbappe arrived at Anfield on a run of 21 goals in 17 games, but he managed just three attempts in the match, none of them hitting the target Kylian Mbappe has been nearly unstoppable this season, but he hit a roadblock in their UEFA Champions League match at Anfield on Tuesday. For the second year running, the Real Madrid forward had a night to forget at Merseyside as Liverpool won 1-0. Mbappe looked a shadow of the player who has been tearing defenses apart all season. “We were lacking that threat in the final third,” said Madrid coach Xabi Alonso, without naming Mbappe individually. The FIFA World Cup winner for France rarely looked capable of finding a breakthrough against a Liverpool team who have been so defensively fragile for much of the
LOCAL SUCCESS: In the doubles, Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Italians Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini in straight sets Elena Rybakina on Monday punched her ticket to the WTA Finals last four with an impressive 3-6, 6-1, 6-0 victory over second seed Iga Swiatek in round-robin play in Riyadh. After cruising past Amanda Anisimova in her opener on Saturday, Rybakina claimed her second win of the week to guarantee herself top spot in the Serena Williams Group. Anisimova on Monday rallied back from a set and a break down to triumph 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in her all-American battle with seventh seed Madison Keys, who has been eliminated from the competition. “Madi was playing so well, it was quite a battle out there,”
Erling Haaland on Sunday scored twice to propel Manchester City up to second in the English Premier League with a 3-1 win over AFC Bournemouth. The Cherries started the day in second thanks to the longest unbeaten run in the English top flight, but Andoni Iraola’s side were undone by the scintillating form of the Norwegian striker, who took his tally to 13 Premier League goals in 10 games. Haaland’s relentless streak is maintaining City’s title challenge as they reduced the gap to leaders Arsenal back to six points and edged one point ahead of Liverpool, who they face at the weekend. “Important
For almost 30 minutes, Vitomir Maricic did not take a breath. Face down in a pool, surrounded by anxious onlookers, the Croatian freediver fought spasming pain to redefine what doctors thought was possible. When he finally surfaced, he had smashed the previous Guinness World Record for the longest breath-hold underwater by nearly five minutes. However, even with the help of pure oxygen before the attempt, it had pushed him to the limit. “Everything was difficult, just overwhelming,” Maricic, 40, told reporters, reflecting on the record-breaking day on June 14. “When I dive, I completely disconnect from everything, as if I’m not even there.
RSS