Brazilian Magazine Crucifies Neymar On Its Cover

    Nothing helps you talk soccer like a little religious death imagery.

    This is the cover of Placar, a well-respected Brazilian sports magazine, depicting a crucified Neymar -- Brazil's biggest soccer superstar.

    The cover story, titled "The Crucifixion of Neymar," is in reference to the young striker -- who is known to fall to the ground quite easily to earn fouls -- being made a scapegoat of such cynical play in the world of soccer. Those claims aren't without a pretty valid base, though, search "Neymar dive" on YouTube and you'll get dozens of different videos. Apparently, Placar was mimicking the cover of a Spanish magazine from the 1970s, which featured a crucified Johan Cruyff.

    According to Goal.com, the Brazilian National Bishops Confederation is very unhappy with Placar:

    "The magazine has shown itself as being insensitive to the recent context of deplorable violence caused by the inadequate use of religious images and, with that, has made a bad contribution towards a consolidation of respectful co-existence between different beliefs."

    Bishops didn't go onto say that they do also hate divers, but they probably do. God doesn't mess around with that.