This was never going to be a normal pre-match moment. Not with Thiago Mendes and Neymar involved, not with the scars of 2020 still hanging around, and certainly not with a rivalry that has already proved it can spill well beyond the limits of decent football rivalry. Before Vasco da Gama faced Santos on Sunday, Thiago Mendes ignored Neymar during the pre-match handshakes. It was a small gesture in isolation, but in this particular feud, even the smallest gesture carries a loud message.
The history here is not subtle. In 2020, Thiago Mendes was sent off in a Ligue 1 clash between Paris Saint-Germain and Lyon after a tackle left Neymar with a serious ankle sprain. That is the sort of moment that does not simply disappear when both players change clubs, change countries or change chapters. It stays alive because both men know exactly what happened, and because everyone else can still see the edge in it.
And this is not some frozen old wound either. Earlier this year, Neymar and Thiago Mendes had a heated confrontation in a recent meeting after both returned to Brazilian football. So when Sunday arrived and Thiago Mendes refused to acknowledge Neymar before kick-off at São Januário, it did not look like coincidence. It looked like continuation. The feud had already been revived once this year, and this was another public reminder that neither side has decided to move on.
A rivalry that keeps finding oxygen
Vasco fans made sure the atmosphere was loaded as well, targeting Neymar throughout the afternoon with provocative masks and a hostile reception. That matters, because it turns what might have been dismissed as a private snub into part of a wider theatre of hostility. Thiago Mendes did not create every bit of that noise, but by blanking Neymar in the handshake line, he added another spark to a fire that was already burning.
Neymar’s response was as blunt as the history suggests it would be. He said Thiago Mendes “always wants to start trouble,” that he “always wants to act like a tough guy,” and added, “With all respect, he's an idiot.” That is not the language of reconciliation. It is the language of a feud that has become part sporting animosity, part personal grievance, and entirely impossible to ignore.
The uncomfortable truth is that neither player has any incentive to pretend this is ordinary. Thiago Mendes does not need to fake warmth after a violent 2020 encounter and a fresh confrontation earlier this year. Neymar does not need to smile through it either. The problem is that once these moments spill into the public eye, they stop being just about two players and start becoming about the tone of the game around them.
That is why the handshake snub matters. Not because footballers are obliged to adore one another, but because this was a deliberate refusal to offer even the smallest act of civility before a match. In a rivalry this raw, that kind of gesture is never empty. It is a statement. And on Sunday, Thiago Mendes made his loud and obvious.
