"I spent 5 days in a row crying after the World Cup, I considered retiring from Brazil"

Paris Saint-Germain striker Neymar confessed that he thought about leaving the Brazilian national team and spent "5 days in a row" crying after losing in the quarterfinals of the Qatar 2022 World Cup against Croatia in a penalty shootout.

"After the World Cup, honestly, I didn't want to come back, but I reconsidered (...) I didn't want to, not to avoid the pain of losing, but to see my family suffering a lot, that affects a lot," he said in an interview with the 'youtuber' Casimiro Miguel released on Wednesday.

Brazil's '10', who in that dramatic match against Croatia scored a great goal in extra time that minutes later would be cancelled out by Bruno Petkovic, said he cried "for 5 days straight" after the elimination.

"I was crying because it hurts a lot, your dream disappearing out of nowhere like that, the way it was. I would have preferred not to have scored, to have gone 0-0 and lost on penalties than to have scored, conceded a goal and then lost on penalties," as it happened, he explained. According to him, it was the "worst moment" of his life.

The former Santos and Barcelona player also indicated that the dressing room looked like a wake, "with some crying on one side and others crying on the other". "It was horrible, a feeling I don't want to go through again," he said.

However, Neymar, 31, guaranteed that he will continue in the national team. "They're going to have to put up with me again," he joked.