Neymar gives up Brazil captaincy

Neymar won his first-ever silverware with Brazil on Saturday as the Selecao beat Germany on penalties for their maiden gold medal at an Olympic Games, and he made it clear that no longer wished to skipper his national team.

“I’ve already talked to my family and from now on I don’t want to be captain of the Brazilian team,” he said after the game.

“This is a message to the new coach, Tite. I don’t want to be the captain.

“We all knew how important this gold was. I knew that, besides being their teammate, I was a role model for the lads, and so they looked at me differently, but we ended up becoming friends.

“I’ll have learned more from them than they have from me.”