SAO PAULO >> Neymar’s excuse for missing a semifinal with Santos was criticized because he was seen at Carnival last week.

Santos lost to archrival Corinthians 2-1 on Sunday in the semifinals of the Sao Paulo state championship, and Neymar sat on the bench for all 90 minutes. On Monday, he said he had a minor injury without elaborating.

Days earlier, the striker was photographed at Rio de Janeiro’s Sambadrome, the venue for the glitzy Carnival parade.

Neymar, who rejoined his boyhood club Santos in January, attended the Carnival parade only hours after being substituted in the second half of another Sao Paulo state championship match on March 2 because of an apparent left thigh injury.

He recently recovered from an ACL tear that sidelined him for more than one year.

Santos did not reveal Neymar had any injuries before Sunday’s semifinal.

“All I wanted was to be on the pitch and help my teammates in some way,” Neymar said on Instagram. “But last Thursday I felt a discomfort that prevented me from being on the pitch. We took a test this morning and I ended up feeling it again.”

Santos coach Pedro Caixinha said he asked Neymar to stay on the bench despite the injury.

Still, many pundits accused Neymar of not focusing on his career, which he is trying to revive at the Brazilian club following spells at Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain and Al-Hilal.

“He chose Carnival over the semifinal,” popular pundit Walter Casagrande Jr. said on his social media channels. “Neymar’s behavior of the last five, six years has come back. He switches the professional side for pleasure and fun.”

Santos president Marcelo Texeira told local media that Neymar was examined several times from Friday to Sunday and all of them showed he was unfit to play against Corinthians.

Medics who treated Maradona go on trial for homicide >> Seven members of the medical team that treated Argentine soccer great Diego Maradona before his death will go on trial for homicide starting Tuesday in Buenos Aires.

The case revolves around allegations that negligence by the health care professionals contributed to the World Cup winner’s death in 2020 at the age of 60, which triggered an outpouring of grief in his native Argentina and across the world.

Maradona suffered a heart attack at his rented house in Tigre, an affluent district north of Argentina’s capital Buenos Aires, where he had been recovering from surgery to remove a blood clot on his brain weeks earlier.

Men’s basketball

Duke ends Auburn’s 8-week stay at No. 1 >> Duke ended Auburn’s eight-week stay at No. 1 in the AP Top 25 men’s college basketball poll, while the Tigers dropped to third behind Houston as all three programs began preparing for their conference tournaments.

The Blue Devils took advantage of back-to-back losses by Auburn to ascend to the top spot for the first time since November 2021, when Duke spent a week there in Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski’s farewell season.

Florida, which beat Alabama earlier in the week, moved up one spot to fourth while the Crimson Tide climbed two spots to fifth in Monday’s poll.

Women’s basketball

UCLA and South Carolina are 1-2 in women’s AP Top 25 >> UCLA vaulted back up to No. 1 in tAssociated Press women’s basketball Top 25 after beating USC for the Big Ten title over the weekend.

The Bruins, who spent 12 weeks atop the poll before losing to the rival Trojans in early February, received 16 first-place votes from a national panel to jump from fourth to first. South Carolina knocked off previous No. 1 Texas in the Southeastern Conference Tournament championship game and moved up to second from fifth in the poll. UConn remained third going into Monday night’s game against No. 22 Creighton for the Big East title.

USC, which beat UCLA twice in the regular season, fell two spots to fourth and Texas dropped to fifth.