On Monday night in Brazil, a life to peek for a Netflix documentary about Brazilian soccer player Neymar drew more than 500,000 streaming views.
The first episode of the highly-anticipated three-part series “Neymar: The Perfect Chaos” received 530,000 simultaneous viewers on streaming service Twitch in Brazil ahead of its official premiere on Tuesday.
From his infancy in Sao Paulo through his development at Brazilian club Santos and eventual superstardom at European teams Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain, the documentary offers a deep dive into the Brazilian number 10’s personal life.
Neymar, 29, has a reputation for being a divisive personality both on and off the field.
Nike announced in May that it had terminated the player’s lucrative sponsorship deal due to an employee’s claim that he tried to force himself on her and his refusal to participate in the company’s inquiry. The allegations against Neymar have been refuted.
Reports that he hosted a massive year-end party in Brazil during the height of the Covid-19 outbreak bolstered his image as a perpetually pampered child.
The series chronicles criticism of the Brazilian forward, with Neymar at one point saying: “I am much more criticized than I deserved and sometimes it’s difficult.”
“I trust me, and that’s enough,” he adds.
His connection with his 10-year-old son Davi, as well as his father, from whom he acquired his name, is also depicted in the series.
Neymar’s father promises viewers in an extract from the series that his son has “seven or eight” years left in his career.
Neymar’s current colleagues Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe, as well as other soccer luminaries Thiago Silva, Dani Alves, and England’s David Beckham, all appear on the screen.
