Fifa World Cup: Neymar's theatrics slammed on social media

Brazil's Neymar cries out in pain. Photo / AP

Neymar may have scored for Brazil in their 2-0 victory over Mexico but it was his theatrics that got everyone talking during the last-16 World Cup clash.

Mexico's Miguel Layun left a sneaky foot on the forward's ankle while trying to receive the ball with his side 1-0 down on Monday.

And Neymar, much to the dismay of football fans worldwide, reacted by rolling around in over-dramatic fashion on the touchline at the Samara Arena.

And ITV pundit Martin O'Neill took a cheeky jab at Neymar following the final whistle: 'His reaction is pathetic, absolutely pathetic. Mark (Clattenburg) is right it's a red card but the pain threshold of Neymar is incredibly low.

"I wouldn't want to see him coming out of the doctors' surgery after getting a flu injection."

Football fans also flocked to social media to direct their anger and embarrassment towards Neymar, with Gary Lineker leading the charge.

The former England international, now pundit, wrote on Twitter: 'Neymar has the lowest pain threshold of any player in World Cups since Opta stats began.'

Neymar has the lowest pain threshold of any player in World Cups since Opta stats began.

— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) July 2, 2018

Another social media user, @Scienceofsport, posted a video of the incident, alongside the caption: 'Come on, man. How do you even show your face in public when acting like this?'

However, the social media anger didn't stop there. Someone else amusingly claimed the Paris Saint-Germain star should have entered a 'Seal on Dry Land Imitation Contest'.

Furthermore, the 26-year-old was compared to that 'little sibling that you barely touch and immediately falls on the floor and pretends to be dying'.

Neymar will not be too bothered about the reaction as he helped Brazil progress to the World Cup quarter-finals with a 2-0 victory over Mexico.

The former Barcelona man opened the scoring in the 51st minute before Roberto Firmino added a second just before injury-time.

FFS @neymarjr man. STOP IT. We are fed up of it. #BrazilvsMexico

— Alan Shearer (@alanshearer) July 2, 2018

Neymar is pathetic.

— 🇺🇦Matthew Lewis🇺🇦 (@Mattdavelewis) July 2, 2018

Gordon Hayward broke his ankle completely in half and showed about 10 percent of the pain Neymar just did.

— Royce Young (@royceyoung) July 2, 2018

#BRAMEX
Neymar is an Oscar winning actor... pic.twitter.com/aVi6I3fXET

— Mukesh Parmar (Modi ka Parivar) (@iammukesh1982) July 2, 2018

When someone touches Neymar's foot #BRAMEX pic.twitter.com/UuiDJcSJOM

— mozart (@mozart_so) July 2, 2018

Neymar’s World Cup highlights... https://t.co/hAhfLuvdKY

— David Lovett (@dlovett32) July 2, 2018

However some dirty Mexican tactics were pointed out with a player standing on Neymar's foot while he was being attended to.

Bruh!....The man stepped on #Neymar ankle like WTF!!
Look at the PIC ...then he wanna help @neymarjr UP ...he knew exactly what he was doing.......
#BRAMEX #BRA pic.twitter.com/0SwR9RACUG

— kιtã™ (@nakitabernard) July 2, 2018