Santos coach fired despite Neymar's return

Brazilian club Santos has sacked its Portuguese coach, Pedro Caixinha, due to the team's poor results, despite the return of star Neymar da Silva to the team in early February. The club published a statement on its official "X" account, confirming that the 54-year-old coach is no longer in charge of the first team, explaining that his assistant, Cesar Sampaio, will take over the technical duties on an interim basis. This move comes after the team's 1-0 loss to Fluminense, a result that left Santos in 18th place in the league table, with only one point from its last three matches. For his part, Neymar, 33, was keen to send a farewell message to his former coach via his Instagram account, writing: "Very happy to work with you. Thank you for everything." Santos had high hopes for Caixinha, especially after strengthening its ranks with Neymar's return to Brazil after a long career in Europe and Saudi Arabia. However, the team has not been able to achieve the desired results over the past four months under the Portuguese coach.