An emotional Neymar said he was left “ashamed” after his Santos side were on the end of a 6-0 home defeat by Vasco da Gama on Sunday – a humiliation that led to the sacking of their head coach, Cléber Xavier.Philippe Coutinho was on the scoresheet twice as Vasco found the net five times in the space of 16 second-half minutes as part of a rout that leaves Santos two points above the relegation places in Brazil’s Serie A. At full-time, home supporters turned their backs to the pitch in the latest protest against the state of the team and club as a whole.“I’m ashamed,” said Neymar, who was in tears as he left the pitch. “I’m totally disappointed with our performance. The fans have every right to protest, obviously without using violence. But if they want to curse and insult, they’re in their right. To sum up our attitude on the field, it was terrible.“I’ve never experienced this in my life. The tears were from anger, from everything. Unfortunately, I can’t help in every way.”Santos, synonymous with greats such as Pelé, were relegated for the first time in their history in 2023 before returning to the top flight last season. They re-signed Neymar, who came through the ranks at the club before leaving for Barcelona in 2013, on a short-term contract in January of this year.“It’s a shame to play like that wearing the Santos jersey,” Neymar said. “I think everyone today needs to lay their head on their pillow, go home, and think about what they want to do. Because with today’s attitude, if we have to do what we did today on the field, I don’t think we even need to show up on Wednesday.”skip past newsletter promotion Sign up to Football Daily Free daily newsletter Kick off your evenings with the Guardian's take on the world of football Enter your email address Sign up Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy . We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. after newsletter promotionThe 6-0 scoreline is the biggest loss of Neymar’s career and was enough for Santos to sack Xavier, who only took over in April in his first job as a head coach. The 61-year-old leaves Santos with 21 points from 19 games in Brazil’s top flight, with fellow battlers for survival Vasco now only two points behind them.
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