Former Brazil international and one of the greatest footballers of all time, Ronaldo believes that pressuring Neymar to decide whether to compete in Copa America or the Rio Olympics is utmost “cowardly”.
The current Brazilian captain, Neymar had expressed his desire to represent his country in both the Copa America and Rio Olympics that are scheduled to take place in June and August of this year respectively.
Barcelona, however, is not obligated to release players for the Olympics and therefore, the Brazilian Football Association (CBF) and the officials of the Catalan club are currently having a discussion on the issue which questions which competition the 24-year-old will participate in.
In a recent interview, the Brazilian legend told the press, “This situation is very difficult for the player. I think it's cowardly that the player has to choose which competition he has to play in. What we see is that (a) few care about the calendar as each time there are more games and more competitions. The players have fewer holidays.”
“The best example is this situation, which is very bad for the player,” the 39-year-old former Barcelona striker added.
Incidentally, Brazil has never won a gold medal at the Olympics and the Brazilian head coach Dunga has previously gone on record to say that he would love to have Neymar in the squad for the Rio Olympics this summer.
Ronaldo was a key member of the Brazilian team which had won the bronze medal at the Atlanta Olympics back in 1996, whereas, Neymar won a silver medal for the Selecao at the last edition of the world’s biggest sporting event in London.
While giving his opinion on the same topic, Ronaldo added, “I would opt to play at the Olympics. It's an old dream, something untold if Brazil were to win the gold medal at the Olympics in Rio.”
The current Barcelona striker made his debut for the South American country back in 2010 and has found the back of the net 46 times since then.
While speaking on why he wants the 24-year-old to be a part of the Selecao team for the Rio Olympics, Ronaldo said, “We have a guarantee that is Neymar. His presence is always very important. He is going through a great time at Barca and what we Brazilians hope is that he is able to repeat that success with the national team.”
Neymar is currently on international duty as Brazil is set to take on Uruguay in the 2018 World Cup qualification match on Friday.
When asked about Brazil’s chances against Uruguay, Ronaldo said, “I think Brazil are (the) favourites. I predict a 2-1 result for Brazil.”
