Joao Pedro posted a statement on Instagram after being left out of Brazil's World Cup squad. He said he was calm and focused. He wished the squad good luck. He said he would be another fan cheering them on. It was a classy response to a brutal decision and it deserved better than it got.
Let us look at what Pedro actually did this season. Fifteen goals and five assists in 34 Premier League games. Twenty six goal contributions in 49 games across all competitions for Chelsea. Among Premier League players only Erling Haaland and Bruno Fernandes contributed to more goals all season. He won Chelsea's player of the season award. By any reasonable measure he was one of the best strikers in England this year.
Ancelotti left him out anyway. Instead he picked Igor Thiago from Brentford, who has had a decent season but is less versatile and less proven at the highest level. He also kept Neymar in, a 34 year old who has barely played in two and a half years. Ancelotti even admitted in his press conference that Pedro probably deserved to be in the squad but that other players had the right characteristics for a tournament environment. That is a strange thing to say about someone with 15 Premier League goals.
The cruelest part of the whole thing is that Pedro himself had publicly backed Neymar for the squad weeks earlier. He said Neymar represents what Messi is to Argentina for Brazil. He was generous and honest about it. And Neymar's inclusion almost certainly came at the direct expense of his own World Cup dream.
Pedro did not score in five World Cup qualifying appearances for Brazil and Ancelotti clearly had doubts about whether his club form translated to international level. That is a legitimate concern. But at 24 with a season like that behind him, you give him the chance. You do not leave him home for a 34 year old on sentiment.
Brazil might be fine without him. They probably will be. But if their attack misfires at any point in North America, Ancelotti will know exactly which name should have been on the plane.
Let me know your thoughts.