The 19-year-old striker missed the game due to suspension, and could only watch from the sidelines as his teammates twice came back from a goal down before slipping to defeat.
Ramalho acknowledged that Santos would have been stronger with Neymar in the side, but denied claims that the defeat was solely down to his absence.
“I disagree with this,” he said when asked if Santos lost because of the lack of Neymar. “Of course, he is needed and would be with any team in the world. I understand that his presence could have made a difference, but we did not lose because of that.”
Instead, Ramalho blamed the surprise loss on a lack of organisation, and too many costly mistakes by his side.
“We made many mistakes, and a big team cannot go wrong that way,” he added. “We were not an organised team. They caught us on the counter-attack too often, and this cannot be allowed to happen.”
