Innocuous in the first leg, Neymar showed why Europe's top clubs want him with a dominant second-leg performance
At the final whistle, as Peñarol's players fought a brawl - apparently sparked by a Santos fan - against a handful of Santos players, backroom staff, a few fans and some bowl-helmeted riot police, Neymar sank to his knees and wept. This was the farewell of which he had dreamed, bringing Santos their first Libertadores since 1963, when Pelé - who was also weeping in celebration as he looked down from his box at the Pacaembu - was in his pomp. But there must also have been a sense of vindication, of relief at having been the decisive figure in the second leg after having been so innocuous in the first.
Neymar had spent the bulk of the first leg (which finished goalless) to the right of Zé Eduardo, and had been frustrated by the brusque attentions of Peñarol's veteran left-back, Darío Rodríguez. Only when switching and cutting in from the left did he pose much of a threat. Last night, he played virtually the whole game on the left, and when the right-back Alejandro González was withdrawn after 38 minutes - for an injury Neymar had inflicted - it felt almost merciful.
González should have been booked for a late attempt at a tackle that hooked Neymar's shin just before the half-hour, and he was booked for tugging the forward back after 31 minutes. It was almost inconceivable he would have lasted the game without collecting a second yellow, but he was forced off after Neymar, again perhaps a little underprotected by the referee, planted his studs into the middle of his shin, seemingly causing damage to González's knee. There was no lunge, and it may be that he was simply clumsy, but the suspicion was that Neymar was having his retribution, showing he can protect himself. The yellow card he received was perhaps fortunate.
The switch of flanks and change of direct opponent helped Neymar, and so too did the return to Ganso after a six-week injury lay-off. Santos had been a little predictable through midfield in the first leg - in fairness, as the away side they perhaps emphasised solidity over imagination; with Ganso they suddenly had a player who found space despite Peñarol's packed centre, somebody who could manufacture angles.
Again and again, he swept low diagonals out to Neymar; it was all rather reminiscent of Gerson's angled balls out to Jaizinho during the 1970 World Cup (although right-to-left rather than left-to-right). Everything Santos did in attack seemed to originate with that pass. The Elano shot that Sebastián Sosa pushed wide after eight minutes came as the Peñarol defence was sucked to that flank, and the ball turned back into the middle where for once there was space. It was Ganso's ball Neymar was chasing when González pulled him back to earn his caution. And, when Leo dragged wide the best opening of the first half, it was after Zé Eduardo had got between Ganso and Neymar, laid the ball forward and moved for a return, a half-challenge sending the ball spinning to the left-back.
Ganso, inevitably, was involved in the opening goal. Peñarol had held out doggedly until half-time, and Santos's back four was rickety enough that there was always the chance they might get caught out by a simple ball over the top, but two minutes after the break came the breakthrough. It was Arouca, a splendidly dynamic presence at the back of midfield, who was the instigator, bursting forward and taking three Peñarol players out of the game, laying the ball off to Ganso, who returned it with a backheel. On Arouca went, charging on an angle from right to left, evading two more challenges and drawing Emiliano Albín, who had replaced González, infield. As soon as the space was there, Arouca played the pass, and Neymar was accelerating goalwards.
Again and again over the past couple of seasons he has opened his body and shaped as if to curl the ball in at the far post, and then, having set the goalkeeper off balance, dragged the ball in at the near post, and he performed the same trick again. It doesn't lend itself to pretty goals, and it left Sosa looking at fault, but Neymar has finished like that so often that he should probably be credited rather than the goalkeeper being blamed.
Neymar was the architect of the second as well, dallying on the left touchline, and then somehow seeing a curved pass infield to Elano. It was hugely risky, as an interception would have led to a break with Santos undermanned at the back, but he executed it perfectly. Elano spread the ball right, and Danilo, up from full-back - although he had played as a left-sided midfielder last week - suddenly had space to run at Darío Rodríguez. He turned inside him and curved a shot round the dives of both Guillermo Rodríguez and Sosa to round off a stunning goal.
A Durval own goal 11 minutes from time gave Peñarol some hope, but the more threatening side in the final minutes remained Santos. When Neymar crossed for Ganso it seemed he could not miss, and when he sliced the ball back across goal it seemed Zé Eduardo really could not miss, but the Genoa-bound centre-forward contrived to head wide from three yards. Neymar then hit the post having clipped the ball over Sosa - and Zé Eduardo stabbed the rebound wide from three yards (memo to Genoa, whom Zé Eduardo will join in the summer: don't set him up with open goals from three yards).
Ganso and Arouca were both excellent, but this was all about Neymar. His talent was never really in question, but what this showed was his mental resilience: after the disappointment of last week, to respond with a match-winning performance speaks volumes for his temperament. Europe - perhaps Real Madrid, perhaps Chelsea, perhaps somewhere else - awaits, and it should do so with some anticipation.
And then sign Ganso as well.
