Brazil coach Tite has accused Tunisia of trying to take Neymar out of the World Cup with their overly physical approach towards the forward.
The Selecao won 5-1 in the friendly in Paris, which also saw Richarlison subjected to sickening racist abuse by the local crowd. Neymar scored from the penalty spot in the first half.
Tite’s side actually committed more than twice as many fouls overall (15), but Neymar was the victim of almost half (3) of Tunisia’s total fouls (7) over the course of 90 minutes.
“On the pitch we knew it would be competitive,” Tite said, via Marca. “Fair, but I didn’t imagine a situation like what happened with Neymar, which was an attempt to take a player out of the World Cup. The way it was done…I couldn’t have imagined it.”
Neymar himself also expressed concern, even claiming it was harsh that he was shown a yellow card during the match when one foul on him in particular went unpunished.
“It worries me, to be honest. I’ve even spoken to Tite. I made a foul, my first one, and I got a yellow card. In the second half I was fouled, cutting off a counter attack and he didn’t get a yellow. It’s difficult,” the PSG star explained.
“I don’t understand these things,” he added: “The World Cup started with this match [laughs]. The Tunisian players went a bit overboard with the fans, who were crazy. They had a great party, but they overdid it a little bit with their forcefulness.”
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