The 10 most polarising players in world football

#6 Neymar

Neymar argues with the referee at the World Cup

Neymar is a footballer of near unrivalled ability, but his reputation is equally built on diving and theatrics as it is jaw dropping skills and goals. At the 2018 World Cup, as much as he would have hoped to define it by winning the Golden Boot and propelling Brazil to victory, he will instead be remembered for his ludicrous diving against Mexico; the ridiculous exaggeration of both the fall and the 'pain' that followed.

Some see Neymar as a petulant child who is incensed when things don't go his way; others see him as a conniving, street wise fighter who will cross the line in order to win, exaggerating challenges in the hope of gaining an advantage or getting opponents sent off. Either way, set apart from his legions of adoring young fans, he is unpopular, to say the least.

#5 Luis Suarez

Suarez was completely unashamed about the handball that devastated Ghana

Suarez has been relatively quiet on the controversy front for several years now, but his track record will secure him a place on lists like this until he retires. In an average game, he is unlikeable enough; nasty, petulant and aggresive, but it is his high profile transgressions that have earned him infamy. On three occasions, he has bitten his opponents, and of course his handball that denied Ghana a place in the World Cup semi-final still ranks high for everyone who isn't Uruguayan.

It wasn't merely the handball; it was the way he celebrated afterwards, as if he had heroically scored the winner for his country rather than cheated their opponents out of a semi-final place (which would have been the first for an African team, at the first African World Cup).