New to Madrid, Endrick is already experiencing one of his first footballing controversies. In a recent interview with a Spanish YouTuber, the Brazilian striker was asked, in a ping-pong format of quick answers, which footballers he preferred.
When it came to comparing and choosing between Bellingham and Neymar, Endrick surprised everyone by putting aside his Brazilian passport and choosing the English Real Madrid player over the Seleção’s all-time top scorer, a fact that generated controversy, laughter and even insults towards the young promise formed at Palmeiras.
Endrick picking between 2 players:
Bellingham > Neymar
Ronaldinho > Bellingham
Vinícius Júnior > Ronaldinho
Mbappé > Vinícius Júnior🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔 pic.twitter.com/FQyCg41oiP
— Ginga Bonito 🇧🇷 (@GingaBonitoHub) August 5, 2024
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Shortly after the interview was published, an Instagram user (@opedrolopes) posted a video in which Barça star Lamine Yamal could be seen choosing Neymar in various questions, all related to his footballing ability and his idolatry of the Brazilian, but also showing the fragment of the video in which Endrick chose Bellingham over Neymar.
All of this, under the caption: “This can’t be true! The Spanish idolize us and the Brazilians turn a blind eye… What a crazy country!” The video concludes with a voice-over that says: “What’s going on in your head?” and ends with a video in which several fans shout, in unison, the word “donkey.”
Respected Brazilian footballer Thiago Silva reacted to this video, commenting with three laughing emojis, thus showing his disapproval of Endrick’s words, but he was not the only Seleção footballer to comment on this post.
His teammate at the recent Copa América and future rival at FC Barcelona, Raphinha, joined in Thiago Silva’s laughter, commenting in a similar way with laughing emojis.
Raphinha has also joined in now 😭 https://t.co/4MOSy0VWJs pic.twitter.com/NJtRPz9a1C
— Ginga Bonito 🇧🇷 (@GingaBonitoHub) August 8, 2024
Criticism of Endrick continues unabated and social media has taken advantage of his statements to make countless memes related to the tastes and choices of the Real Madrid star, who recently stated that Sir Bobby Charlton was one of his childhood idols, something that seems impossible to many.
Many X users claim that Endrick “was swallowed by the character”, but others claim that these statements are explained by his recent contract with Real Madrid, a club that would advise its players not to make positive statements about players with a past at FC Barcelona.
