The latest episode of the Amazon series Ted Lasso dropped on 23rd September, and football fans have gone into a frenzy over the Neymar Jr. reference.
In episode 8, titled “ Follow the Anger,” of Season 4, which premiered recently, the episode showed the protagonist, Ted Lasso, giving a monologue in the locker room to motivate the players.
He starts the dialogue with the quote “There is crying in football”, contrary to the famous quote “ There is no crying in baseball ” in the 1992 film A League of Their Own.
He cited the crying habits of famous footballers, including Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Zidane, Maradona, and Neymar. On Neymar, Ted Lasso says that “ Neymar cries all the time, you know”. This part got fans’ attention, with them joking that Ted Lasso did Neymar dirty with this one.
“Leo Messi, that fella shows less emotion than the Mona Lisa on beta blockers. But when he finally won the World Cup, man, he was crying like a baby watching Beaches while listening to Adele’s second album. Waterworks, you know?
What about Ronaldo? That guy’s cried so much, I can only assume that’s how he got them abs. You know, he’s like… Does all these little crunches, just bawling. Fella got so many abs; he’s got a 12-pack on him. Good lord.
I mean, Maradona cried. Zidane cried. Neymar cries all the time, you know.” Was the segment that caught attention.
Neymar’s very expressive and frequently emotional behaviour on the field garners attention and is widely known among football fans as one of the most emotional and crying footballers on the field. Though known as one of the best dribblers, Neymar is widely criticised for his theatrical falls and persistence of approving fouls for the rival team by showing his emotions.
Fans are posting hilarious comments for pointing out how Ted Lasso mentioned Neymar as a whining player; unlike others, he mentioned their abilities and fame, while for Neymar Jr. straight away went with his reputation for being “ too emotional ” on the field.
Neymar Jr. was heavily criticised for his emotional expressions after being tackled by other players or when he was fighting an injury during the match. Especially given his injury proneness, fans are often distressed by his poor physical durability.
One incident that took a toll on him was the 2018 Russia World Cup, where he battled a fractured metatarsal before the tournament and led Brazil to the quarter-finals. His theatrical falls and very profound expression of emotions were criticised widely. When Brazil was knocked out of the quarter-finals by Belgium, Neymar was seen at the saddest moment of his career and expressed that he found it difficult to play football again.
“I can say that it is the saddest moment of my career, the pain is very great because we knew we could get there, we knew we had the conditions to go further, to make history but it was not this time,” Neymar said.
Coming back to the Ted Lasso reference on the football players. Fans of the series have not been liking the new season 4 so far, mainly because they feel that the story did not need an extension and the season 3 finale was actually great. Another factor is the forced nostalgia and callback moments in the series, along with the inclusion of melodrama moments. Fans say they enjoyed episode 2, where there were comedy elements, but again the series became all about drama.
Fans also argue that Cristiano Ronaldo was the actual player who was done dirty by the series. About Ronaldo, Ted Lasso describes that he is someone who has cried so much that he wonders Ronaldo got his twelve-pack abs from crying while doing sit-ups.
Ronaldo was seen crying when he achieved major milestones in his career or when he was close to achieving them but lost at the last moment. Recently, Ronaldo was seen in tears leaving the field after Portugal was knocked out of the 2026 World Cup by Spain, as it was his last World Cup.
Ted Lasso’s Neymar and Ronaldo reference has, however, increased the engagement of the series, and more football fans are discussing it. While some fans are not so happy with the description, others are clearly enjoying it, pointing out that it should be taken as a joke. It has always become a matter of discussion when football stars and pop culture cross paths, which indeed benefits the makers.
