Copa America: Neymar Leaves Training Camp, Denies Ref Outburst

Barcelona star Neymar has left Brazil’s training camp after COMNEBOL handed him a four-match ban ruling him out for the rest of the Copa America tournament.

The Brazilian Football Confederation said in a statement that during Sunday night’s meeting between Neymar and technical management, it was decided that CBF would respect and will not appeal COMNEBOL’s verdict. The decision was made after a Neymar-less Brazil managed a nail-biter win over Venezuela.

"The coaching staff and the player hope that the same rigour with which CONMEBOL punished Neymar will be applied in all competitions organised by the entity," the statement added.

Reports from Sydney Morning Herald says that Neymar himself could not bear to stick around with the team now that he was no longer involved in matches. Brazil’s football messiah expressed his feelings of disappointment on social media platform Instagram saying that it kills him from the inside just to train and not to play for his team.

"I know that my presence in the team is important, as is that of all the other players who, more than ever, must remain concentrated on the forthcoming matches. It's awful training without preparing for something and such a situation would run the risk of me picking up an accidental injury, which would make things even more difficult,” he added.

Neymar was banned for the rest of the tournament after getting a red card against Colombia when he appeared to head-butt Colombia’s Jeison Murillo after the match. The Selecao star denied reports that he launched an expletive-laden attack on the referee after the scuffle. He said that nothing happened in the tunnel and he was just waiting to ask the referee why he got dismissed, and that security guards came thinking he wanted to attack the ref.

The 23-year-old Brazilian skipper has been consistently criticized for his poor conduct after the incident. Brazil topped Group C after a 2-1 win against Venezuela with goals from Thiago Silva and Roberto Firmino. The team will face Paraguay in the quarter-finals on Saturday and could either face Colombia or Argentina in the semis.