Olympic football pressure on Neymar 'inhuman', says coach

Rio de Janeiro (AFP) – Brazil’s national football coach warned Wednesday against over-pressuring Neymar, just a day after the Olympic coach said he was glad to depend heavily on the star forward.

“It’s inhuman to put all the responsibility on one person. The responsibility should be on the trainer and on the other team members and, when the time comes, on the one who has the quality to take responsibility,” national coach Tite told journalists.

Tite pointed to the victorious Portuguese team in the Euro championship, which defeated France in the final despite losing its star Cristiano Ronaldo early on to an injury.

Meanwhile, Argentina recently failed to beat Chile despite Messi’s presence, Tite said.

On Tuesday, however, Brazil’s Olympic coach Rogerio Micale embraced the idea of leaning on Neymar, saying “I want to be dependent on Neymar.”

Brazil has struggled recently to escape accusations of being a one-man team with little threat beyond its Barcelona star.