Neymar and Thiago Mendes produced one of the most awkward moments of the Brazilian football weekend when the Santos star offered his hand before facing Vasco, only for Mendes to walk past him. The incident reopened a feud stretching back to their days at PSG and Lyon.
Neymar appeared ready to put his differences with Thiago Mendes aside before Santos faced Vasco da Gama. The Vasco captain had a very different response.
In a remarkable moment captured before Sunday’s match at São Januário, Neymar extended his hand towards Mendes during the pre-match greetings.
Thiago simply walked past him.
No handshake.
No conversation.
And moments later, the two captains stood together for the coin toss without exchanging any meaningful interaction.
The brief incident immediately reignited a rivalry between the two Brazilian players that dates back almost six years.
Neymar offered his hand but Thiago Mendes ignored him
The tension was visible before a ball had even been kicked.
As the teams completed their pre-match greetings, Neymar reached out towards Mendes.
The Santos captain appeared to expect a normal handshake.
Mendes continued walking.
Neymar’s reaction made the awkwardness of the moment even clearer as he appeared surprised by the refusal.
The pair then met again seconds later for the traditional captain’s coin toss.
Once again, there was little sign of reconciliation.
They exchanged the club pennants required for the ceremony but did not share the type of friendly interaction normally seen between two captains before a match.
The moment quickly spread across Brazilian football media and social networks.
The feud began during Neymar’s PSG days
The tension between Neymar and Thiago Mendes did not begin at Vasco or Santos.
It stretches back to December 2020.
Neymar was playing for Paris Saint-Germain at the time, while Thiago Mendes represented Lyon.
Late in a Ligue 1 match between the clubs, Mendes made a heavy challenge on Neymar.
The Brazilian star went down in significant pain and had to leave the field on a stretcher.
Mendes initially received a yellow card before VAR intervention resulted in the punishment being upgraded to a red.
Neymar was later diagnosed with an ankle sprain.
The incident immediately generated controversy because of the force of the challenge and Neymar’s visible distress.
Mendes subsequently apologized publicly.
But the story between the two players was far from over.
The rivalry exploded again in 2026
Years later, the two Brazilians found themselves facing each other again back home.
By February 2026, Neymar had returned to Santos and Thiago Mendes was playing for Vasco.
The reunion quickly became heated.
During an earlier Santos-Vasco meeting, the pair became involved in a confrontation following another challenge.
Both players were booked after exchanging words.
But the controversy continued after the final whistle.
Neymar publicly criticized Mendes and accused him of making a threatening comment during their confrontation.
The Santos star claimed Mendes had suggested he could hurt him again.
Neymar reacted furiously and used strong language when discussing the incident.
Mendes offered a different version.
He argued that he had been defending Vasco and demanding respect for his club during an emotional match.
The disagreement ensured that their history from France was suddenly relevant again.
The handshake snub suggests nothing has been forgotten
That history explains why Sunday’s pre-match incident attracted so much attention.
If the relationship had improved, a simple handshake would have offered an obvious opportunity to demonstrate it.
Neymar appeared willing to make that gesture.
Mendes did not respond.
The refusal immediately suggested that whatever happened between them earlier this year remains unresolved.
There was no physical confrontation.
There was no major argument.
But sometimes a refusal to shake hands says enough.
The players avoided another major confrontation during the match
Despite the tension before kick-off, the match itself did not produce another explosive clash between Neymar and Mendes.
The pair did not become involved in a significant fight or confrontation during the 90 minutes.
That distinction matters because the latest chapter of their rivalry was primarily about what happened before the game.
The headline moment was Mendes refusing Neymar’s handshake.
It was not another dangerous tackle or on-field brawl.
The football itself remained largely separate from the personal tension.
Santos had the final word on the scoreboard
Whatever Mendes intended with his pre-match gesture, Santos ultimately left São Januário with the result.
Neymar’s side defeated Vasco 3-0.
Gabriel Barbosa, Willian Arão and Luan Peres were among the scorers as Santos secured an impressive away victory.
Neymar did not score, but he remained influential in Santos’ attacking play and set-piece situations.
That created a striking narrative around the night.
Before the match, Thiago Mendes refused Neymar’s handshake.
After the match, Neymar and Santos left with three points and a 3-0 win.
A Neymar friend also reacts
The incident did not remain exclusively between the two players.
Jota Amancio, one of Neymar’s close friends, also reacted publicly after the handshake moment attracted widespread attention.
His social media response appeared to criticize Mendes indirectly and added another layer to the story.
That reaction demonstrated how quickly a few seconds before kick-off had developed into a major talking point around Neymar’s inner circle and Brazilian football.
However, neither Neymar nor Mendes immediately produced a detailed public explanation after the match about what happened during the handshake attempt.
Why does Thiago Mendes appear to still be angry?
Without a direct explanation from Mendes, the precise motivation behind Sunday’s refusal remains unclear.
But the background between the pair provides an obvious context.
There was the 2020 tackle in France.
There was the confrontation earlier in 2026.
There were Neymar’s public accusations afterwards.
And there was Mendes’ own insistence that he had simply been standing up for Vasco.
Relations between the pair were clearly strained before Sunday.
The handshake incident showed no obvious sign that those tensions have disappeared.
Neymar appeared to be the one offering peace
What made the incident especially interesting was Neymar’s role in the exchange.
The Santos star was the player who extended his hand.
Whatever had been said between them in the past, Neymar appeared prepared to complete the traditional pre-match greeting.
Mendes chose not to accept it.
That visual immediately shaped the public perception of the incident.
It was not a situation where both players refused to acknowledge each other.
Neymar made the first gesture.
Thiago walked past.
A rivalry stretching across countries and clubs
The feud is unusual because it has followed both players through completely different stages of their careers.
It began in France.
Neymar was one of PSG’s biggest stars.
Mendes was a Lyon midfielder.
Six years later, both players are back in Brazil.
Neymar represents Santos.
Mendes represents Vasco.
Yet a confrontation that began thousands of miles away remains part of their relationship.
That history gives every new meeting between the two players an additional layer of tension.
The next meeting could attract even more attention
After Sunday’s incident, the next encounter between Santos and Vasco is likely to receive even more scrutiny.
Every challenge involving Neymar and Mendes will be watched closely.
Every conversation between the two will attract attention.
Even another pre-match handshake could become a story.
For now, neither player has publicly indicated that the dispute is resolved.
Sunday’s images suggest the opposite.
Six years later, the tension remains
Football rivalries are often created by clubs, trophies or major matches.
This one is personal.
A heavy tackle in 2020 created the first controversy.
A confrontation in 2026 brought the old resentment back to the surface.
Now a simple handshake has added another chapter.
Neymar offered his hand.
Thiago Mendes walked straight past.
There was no fight afterwards.
But there was also no reconciliation.
Six years after their first major clash, Neymar and Thiago Mendes clearly still have unfinished business.
