Neymar breaks silence on Brazil election result after World Cup pledge backfires

Paris Saint-Germain star Neymar has spoken of the Brazil election result following the defeat of president Jair Bolsonaro, whom he had publicly supported.

Neymar threw his support behind Bolsonaro ahead of the first round of voting earlier this month before Lula accused him of having a deal with Brazil's far-right incumbent Bolsonaro - to support him in election in return for writing off the footballer's tax debt. The footballer had then pledged to dedicate his first goal of the World Cup finals next month to Bolsonaro.

Lula - the nation's president for eight years between 2003 and 2010 - claimed that Neymar is "afraid" of a change of presidency due to the footballer's "tax debt" and suggested that he has an "agreement" with Bolsonaro.

Bolsonaro, who had been standing for re-election after coming to power in January 2019, had attracted criticism after being accused of homophobic and misogynistic comments. The far-right president, who has been compared to Donald Trump, won 55 per cent of the votes in the 2018 elections and had been looking to win a second term as his country's leader.

However, Bolsonaro was defeated in Sunday night's run-off against former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva - the left-wing candidate - won with 50.9 percent of the votes, and after being banned from running in the last presidential election in 2018 because he was in jail, it is an astonishing comeback.

The new leader was serving a 12-year corruption sentence, but was freed in 2019 after a supreme court ruling which infuriated followers of the far-right Mr Bolsonaro. Mr Lula has always proclaimed his innocence and argued the case against him was politically motivated.

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Earlier this month, Neymar said in a video shared by Brazil's communications minister Fabio Faria last month, ahead of the first round of elections: "President Bolsonaro. I thank you for your illustrious visit. I wish I was there, unfortunately I am far away. But I will be with you in the next one. I am very happy because you are there."

Bolsonaro then posted another video on Neymar, in which the footballer said: "I thank you for your support, as always. You know that I am very proud of you."

After the election result, Neymar shared a post of himself with the flag of Brazil alongside the caption: "May your will be done, God." That prompted his father to reply stating: "God, country, family and freedom. Thank you for being like this, for being born like this, with courage and faith. Our family and friends are very proud of you."

Spurs forward Lucas Moura had also endorsed Bolsonaro in each of the last two elections. Other footballers to show their support for the president during his previous run for election included Rivaldo and Ronaldinho, now both retired, prompting Barcelona - for whom the pair were ambassadors at the time - to take action.

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