Neymar is not willing to warm the bench for Brazil
Brazillian forward, Neymar Jr. has expressed his discontent of ‘warming the bench’ following his 10-minute run out against Costa Rica on Saturday, reports Goal. Neymar seems to have issued a warning to the Brazil coach, Dunga after he was left out of the starting line-up in the friendly.
The Barcelona forward has recently recovered from mumps which kept him out from the reigning champions’ La Liga opening match against Athletic Bilbao. Neymar was already reported to have limped off during training on Thursday with his compatriots. This could well be the reason for Dunga to leave him out of the starting line-up.
Brazil registered a narrow victory over the World Cup 2014 quarter-finalists – Costa Rica, courtesy of Hulk’s early goal at the Red Bull Arena.
The 23-year-old talisman received a red card in this year’s Copa America against Colombia when the Brazillian had a bust-up with Carlos Bacca at the final whistle. It turned out to be a disappointing end to the tournament for Brazil and Neymar - who is now banned from the next two competitive games for his country. But Neymar has clearly warned Dunga and is refusing to accept his unusual status as a benchwarmer in the Brazillian team.
"Being benched is not something I'm used to and I'm not willing to get used to it," according to Goal.
He further added: "I want to play and I'm always working to be amongst the starting XI."
He has managed to break into the Brazil team regularly with consummate ease and has already scored 44 goals for his national side at the ripe young age of 23.
Neymar was instrumental in Barcelona’s treble-winning campaign and formed Europe’s lethal attacking partnership with Argentine Lionel Messi and Uruguayan Luis Suarez. They shared over 120 goals between them last term and Neymar was also one of World Cup 2014’s stars before he had an injury setback that ended his tournament in the quarter finals.
The Selecao are up against the United States of America on Tuesday, who will host next summer's Copa America Centenario. However, Neymar is set to miss his country's first two 2018 World Cup qualifiers against Chile and Venezuela next month. Brazil coach Dunga’ s decision to leave out the talismanic Neymar from the line-up has brought in criticism from the player – who wants nothing but to start regularly for the national team.